Nature Lovers, Sign the Petition

SleepingWolf · Jul 31, 2015

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waday · Jul 31, 2015

Real men (and women) shoot with cameras, not guns.

waday · Jul 31, 2015

SleepingWolf said:
Captive lion I shot (with a camera) at the SF Zoo. I did not maim him with an arrow and then let him suffer for 40 hours, after luring him off his reserve (illegally), shooting him with a rifle, skinning him, taking his head off to brag about it, and then trying to destroy the GPS tracking device.

FIFY.

I wonder if he's taken poor Cecil's head into hiding with him.

tirediron · Jul 31, 2015

Moved to Off-topic since this isn't really a photography-related discussion.

tirediron · Jul 31, 2015

SleepingWolf said:
thank you for burying it where nobody will see it..btw , I posted a picture, so what's the problem?

Really? Since you OP contained no image and a potentially controversial topic, it had no place in an image gallery. I could have simply deleted it out-of-hand based on the strong likliehood of the thread turning into a train-wreck, but instead, I simply moved it to the appropriate forum.

Braineack · Jul 31, 2015

oh zimbabwe, im going to shake my finger at you. stop it. stop.

there i signed the petition...

limr · Jul 31, 2015

It's not the first time he has been caught hunting illegally. He also had to pay to settle a sexual harassment suit.

This guy just keeps getting worse.

Designer · Jul 31, 2015

".. who paid $55,000 for a hunting permit.."

Who got the money? Is Mugabe selling hunting permits to enrich himself?

limr · Jul 31, 2015

Designer said:
".. who paid $55,000 for a hunting permit.."

Who got the money? Is Mugabe selling hunting permits to enrich himself?

That's what he paid to the company he hired to take him on the hunt. There are a lot of those companies and professional hunters that arrange big game hunts for rich folks.

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JacaRanda · Jul 31, 2015

Glad his guides are getting some of what they deserve.

terri · Jul 31, 2015

SleepingWolf said:
This guy describes himself as a wildlife photographer.

So he's a liar as well as a hunter/killer of endangered species.

I signed a petition a day or two back. Whether he faces charges remains to be seen...but it seems since public reaction is not being kind, the universe is getting him, whether the law does or not.

tirediron · Jul 31, 2015

I don't think there's any need for lawyers, courts or any of that rubbish. Just take him back to the park and (using whatever method(s) are required) make him personally apologize to Missus Cecil

Overread · Jul 31, 2015

A custodial sentence might be the best thing for him now; whilst what he has done is no worse than what other big game and endangered species hunters have done he's gained a lot of public lime-light in a bad way so getting into a nice safe cell might be a good thing for him.

Personally I hope that the backlash isn't focused on him at all; he's quite honestly small-fry. He's one man doing this and not even one organising; just taking advantage of existing ways into poaching. In my mind the ones in the lime-light should be the poachers themselves who arranged this hunt as they are the ones who were going to arrange the death of that lion and many others - the dentist was just the one who happened to be paying for this particular kill. IT could just as easily have been anyone of a number of other hunters.

Hopefully it gains enough attention in the public eye to do some good; though I'd be sceptical and wonder if the good done will last more than a month or two.

I'm reminded of what I heard in India where many native people do elephant rides to see the tigers and how when they were away from their working areas for a few days doing another event there was a spike in poaching of tigers that they were unable to prevent and a myriad of new traps/snares and such that had to be removed. People don't really appreciate that its a kind of war-zone of tourist VS poacher. $50,000 is a lot in the USA, its even more in 3rd world countries so for a poacher its the kind of sum worth taking a big risk for. Even in teh west that's a near 2 years semi-decent income and one year very good income in one huge lump sum

Designer · Jul 31, 2015

Is there no one but me who thinks Robert Mugabe is somehow involved? The government takes NOTHING? I'm not buying into that.

limr · Jul 31, 2015

Designer said:
Is there no one but me who thinks Robert Mugabe is somehow involved? The government takes NOTHING? I'm not buying into that.

Well, the landowner is being charged along with the professional hunter that was in charge of the hunt. According to that article I linked to earlier:

"“Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management as the Regulatory Authority and custodian of all wild animals in Zimbabwe issues hunting permits and hunting quota for all hunting areas in Zimbabwe so that only animals on quota are to be hunted. In this case, both the professional hunter and land owner had no permit or quota to justify the offtake of the lion and therefore are liable for the illegal hunt,” the agency said."

So...the government gets money for permits and probably bribes for the illegal hunts. It says earlier that it IS legal to lure the animal, but only if it is lured to an area that is allowed a quota of kills of that animal. So if it had been a leopard, apparently, the hunt would have been legal, but it was a lion and there was no lion quota in that area. Apparently, if that happens, the hunters just lie about where the animal was killed, and you can be damn sure there is some money changing hands to make sure that no one questions the lie. I think the only reason they got caught this time was because the lion was famous and no bribe was big enough to hide that.

How much of this filters up to Mugabe? Who knows. All I know is that an obscene amount of money is being passed around the business of killing these animals just for sport, and I think it's disgusting, legal or not.