Why Cecil the Lion is Only the Beginning

The big uproar that started with the killing of Cecil the Lion will surely die down, and attention to it will be forgotten for some time. It’s sad, because trophy killing is an action (I won’t even call it sport ), that is big money in Africa, and will not likely stop anytime soon. I personally am against killing animals, so they can be hung like IKEA wall art in some lavish office, or living room, but there are people in this world who don’t have a problem with it. Unfortunately, a majority of these hunters are from the United States, and have the financial resources to shell out thousands, for guides to trek them into the African wild, so they may achieve this. The African game hunting industry brings in more than $750 million annually, and it’s main focus is creating jobs for people there. Some of these lavish safaris are merely hunting parties for animals that have been bred just for this reason- to be hunted down and killed for the clients.  As to how much they are regulated, and overseen is anyone’s guess.  The weird part of this whole story is, organizations such as the World Wildlife Fund, and even the U.S. Fish and Wildlife, back regulated hunting, as they see it as a way of ‘saving animals in the wild’. I guess I’m not seeing the whole picture, nor am I interested in finding the logic of killing, to prevent more killing. One things is for sure ; we have a culture in the United States glamorizing this, and even have presidents who have proudly posed with their kills. Critics will say to restrict people from doing this sort of activity is an attack on our personal freedoms and blah blah blah about rights and so forth. Will this trend change, Of course not! As long as there are folks who have the fat wallets to shell out tens and thousands of dollar$ to get high on killing other creatures, there will be someone at the receiving end to help them achieve this.