If you haven’t noticed already, our society evolves with time. On some days, we achieve great accomplishments, whether it be as a nation or an individual. Yet on other days, we endure great failures. Nothing is wrong with failing because it is ultimately a part of life that is unavoidable. Nobody’s perfect and everyone makes mistakes, but sometimes we have to wonder if certain mistakes could have easily been avoided.
Minnesota dentist and avid hunter, Walter Palmer, claims he made a mistake when deciding to brutally kill, skin, and behead Cecil the Lion. False.
It’s not a mistake when someone deliberately lures an animal out of a national park. It’s not a mistake when someone aims and launches an arrow into an animal’s body. It’s not a mistake when someone tracks a wounded, suffering animal for 40 hours and then decides to shoot it. It’s not a mistake when someone physically skins and beheads an animal with their own hands. Most importantly, it’s not a mistake when someone pays at least $50,000 to do all of this.
None of it was a mistake. Walter Palmer knew exactly what he was doing. In a recent statement, he claimed that murdering Cecil the Lion was in fact a mistake due to not knowing that this particular lion was an iconic symbol for Zimbabwe and a part of Oxford University’s research program. He stated, “I deeply regret that my pursuit of an activity I love and practice responsibly and legally resulted in the taking of this lion.”
The question to ask is, what if this was a different lion? Would it then NOT be a mistake to slowly harm and kill an animal that isn’t attacking you? Being the passionate animal lover that I am, it’s hard for me to hear Palmer state that slaying animals is an activity he loves. I understand that hunting animals may be a part of one’s culture and that some people rely on hunting for food, but to hunt for the sole purpose of showing off a dead animal’s body as if it’s an Olympic medal is something I will never comprehend. It’s evident that showing off his killings is something Walter Palmer enjoys to do. You can find photos of him posing and smiling with various dead animals that he has hunted on the Internet. It’s truly upsetting because he looks genuinely proud in these pictures. Therefore, I find it hard to believe that he “deeply regrets” killing Cecil. The only thing he regrets is getting caught. After all, he did try to destroy the collar that Cecil was wearing in attempts of covering up what he had done.
In my opinion, animals are the most innocent victims. They are often manipulated by mankind. Unfortunately, wild animals are not the only ones we have to be concerned about. Many house pets are abused and neglected by their owners on a daily basis. The fact that these abusers frequently get away with this cruelty sickens me.
So if there is anything we can learn from the tragic death of Cecil the Lion, I want it to be this. Animals matter. They are living creatures. They have the ability to feel, interact, and connect just as humans do. Stop hurting them just for the sake of boosting your own ego. It’s time to show them some appreciation and give them the respect that they deserve. Animal cruelty is a huge failure in our society that can easily be avoided. I sincerely hope that one day it no longer exists.
