# Am I the only one who's not !OUTRAGED! over the death of Cecil the lion? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 29, 2015, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-whos-not-outraged-over-the-death-of-cecil-the-lion/726506 "2015-07-29T19:45:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![TommyzNR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@TommyzNR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TommyzNR)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-whos-not-outraged-over-the-death-of-cecil-the-lion/726506/81 "2015-07-30T14:21:52Z")
The Straight Dope Fighting Ignorance Since 1973 (It’s taking longer than we thought) Indeed! ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-whos-not-outraged-over-the-death-of-cecil-the-lion/726506/82 "2015-07-30T14:57:08Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > This lion was special, most lions don’t make it anywhere near 13 years of age. He was also a very important tourist attraction and generated quite a bit of money for the local economy. He was basicaly a tame lion who was lured out of the park for an easy risk free shot by a hunter who wanted to go home and brag about his braveness. He gives hunters a bad name. That’s the part that irks me; this clown basically did something that’s fundamentally equivalent of shooting a tied-up animal. That’s not hunting… that’s just killing something for the sake of killing it, which is wrong. If he’d gone out into the bush with his bow and stalked an actual wild lion and killed it that way, then I’d have more respect, in that would show some serious hunting skills, as well as some cojones, as lions aren’t exactly kind or gentle creatures. And if lions weren’t listed as “vulnerable” in terms of their conservation status, then I wouldn’t care at all. But they are, so wanton killing of lions is a bad idea and likely poor conservation, and killing what amounts to defenseless ones is reprehensible, so I don’t feel sorry for the vitriol and abuse that this guy has brought on himself. I think that my feelings aren’t the norm though; most people are torqued that someone shot a lion at all, and that someone shot the “nice” lion. ---
**Author:** ![sachertorte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sachertorte/32/3727_2.png) [@sachertorte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sachertorte)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-whos-not-outraged-over-the-death-of-cecil-the-lion/726506/83 "2015-07-30T16:05:38Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > Surprised no-one’s mentioned that the tens of thousands of dollars he paid for this hunt mostly goes to conservation work… Big game hunters are one of the largest funders of conservation work overall (so they keep having stuff to hunt, presumably), and in my opinion anyone who’s not donated that sort of money to help endangered animals should shut the fuck up about someone doing more to help them than you are. No one mentions it, because it isn’t true. They lured the lion out of a preserve in order to shoot it. That isn’t conservation work. They knew what they were doing was wrong. In addition to luring the lion off the preserve, they also tried to destroy the radio collar to cover up their crime. There is nothing legitimate about his actions at all. The money didn’t go to any conservation work but to poachers. He paid poachers to help him kill a lion. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-whos-not-outraged-over-the-death-of-cecil-the-lion/726506/84 "2015-07-30T16:35:48Z")
There is just something inherently broken about a human being who sees a beautiful animal and derives joy in killing it for fun. How can that be normal? ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-whos-not-outraged-over-the-death-of-cecil-the-lion/726506/85 "2015-07-30T16:54:19Z")
I’m outraged in the sense that this is a subject I spend little time on, its low priority, and I’m mostly parroting the reaction of others in order to feel like part of a group in our collective anger. However, that doesn’t mean that its not important, and it doesn’t mean that its wrong for me to feel this way. The human mind simply doesn’t have enough time to devote to every single cause that matters. When one issue peeks its head out of the sea of recreational outrage and gains traction, for whatever reason, I feel perfectly justified in hopping on the bandwagon ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-whos-not-outraged-over-the-death-of-cecil-the-lion/726506/86 "2015-07-30T16:57:21Z")
Considering that it’s likely none of the people posting in this thread have donated 10s of thousands of dollars, including them among those who need to “shut the fuck up” is way out of line in this forum. You’re not in the Pit so dial the vitroel back. No Warning Issued. > [@Steophan](#): > > Surprised no-one’s mentioned that the tens of thousands of dollars he paid for this hunt mostly goes to conservation work… Big game hunters are one of the largest funders of conservation work overall (so they keep having stuff to hunt, presumably), and in my opinion anyone who’s not donated that sort of money to help endangered animals should shut the fuck up about someone doing more to help them than you are. > > Yes, I find hunting for sport ugly. But, so fucking what? I don’t like it, so I don’t indulge in it. That’s the extent that it affects me. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-whos-not-outraged-over-the-death-of-cecil-the-lion/726506/87 "2015-07-30T16:57:27Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > So killing a lion makes you a “coward” now? Back in my day, it was kind of considered “bad ass”. > Then again, in my day we used to kill them with our bare hands. Needed both of 'em? Huh. > [@marshmallow](#): > > The easiest way to get the internet to collectively hate you is to kill charismatic megafauna. That or punt cats into a river. His only prayer is to convince the worldwide mob that it was actually just an African man in a lion suit. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-whos-not-outraged-over-the-death-of-cecil-the-lion/726506/88 "2015-07-30T17:05:51Z")
The only thing I care about this dead lion is the scientific research that is now lost. But I know the scientists will just collar another lion and go on with their research. And the hunting of big game for trophies, that most people never cared about until the media made this a national story, will continue and in a couple of weeks all the internet tards will forget and move on to be outraged by the next “Thing we must be OUTRAGED about!”. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-whos-not-outraged-over-the-death-of-cecil-the-lion/726506/89 "2015-07-30T17:23:22Z")
I do not agree with harassing someone the way this guy has been because it is not only him that suffers but his family and co-workers. But this is the problem with those people who don’t find it enough to complain about a guy online and have to take it to the extremes of harassing him directly. If you want him to pay for his crime then contact and urge the authorities to do what they can to punish him for it but leave him and those around him alone. > [@orcenio](#): > > If I was generous, sounds like he couldn’t be assed to find out if his actions were legal or not. Now that he knows it was illegal he couldn’t be assed to accept the consequences of his actions. Hell, if I wasn’t generous, the man simply **knowingly** bribed his way into clumsily shooting a protected/famous member of threaten species (in a poor country) and is now dodging the consequences. I agree. I think he probably asked his guides to get him a lion and he didn’t care how they did it. I also doubt that a hunter who frequently travels to Africa would not be familiar enough with the area to know if bordered a protected park that housed a popular black-maned lion. I think he thought he found a loophole to take the lion and didn’t think he would face any consequences for it. > [@Helena330](#): > > Then there’s the part about not actually killing the lion with his first shot. Cecil lived in pain for forty hours until they tracked him down and finished him off. There’s also the fact that he has 24 cubs that will now most likely be killed by other males seeking to pass on their bloodlines, not his. > … This bothers me even more, he didn’t just kill one lion, he essentially killed many. Sure another male lion may have come along some day to challenge Cecil and won and then taken out his cubs but we don’t know that for sure, maybe he wouldn’t have had any cubs when that happened. We do know his death has left a gap that other males will try to fill, possibly some of them will be badly injured or killed during that process as well. Sure that is nature but it didn’t come about naturally. > [@Acsenray](#): > > What do you suggest? That people rank all the day’s events by importance and then shut about things that don’t appear in the top five? > > People are capable of thinking about more than one thing at a time. It’s a fallacy to imply that the existence of an issue with X importance should mean that anything with X-1 importance isn’t worth attention. Exactly, I am so sick of the “but what about aborted fetuses!!!?” or “no one cares about black people being killed by cops”. We can care about more than one thing, we can care about animals and still eat hamburgers, we can care about carbon emissions and still drive a car and we can care about human lives and animal lives at the same time. Sometimes it isn’t an either/or thing. > [@Steophan](#): > > Surprised no-one’s mentioned that the tens of thousands of dollars he paid for this hunt mostly goes to conservation work… Big game hunters are one of the largest funders of conservation work overall (so they keep having stuff to hunt, presumably), and in my opinion anyone who’s not donated that sort of money to help endangered animals should shut the fuck up about someone doing more to help them than you are. > … You sound exactly like someone who I responded to on Facebook. That’s total bullshit, you’re saying only rich people who can afford to shell out that kind of money can have an opinion. How about all those researchers and park workers who probably work for peanuts? I’m sure they have done a lot more with their time and energy than a pampered pussy who gets his thrills by killing things. I haven’t “donated” huge sums of money but I have donated to conservation organizations and I have donated my time helping wildlife. And anyone can have an opinion, even you. > [@Chefguy](#): > > …This was a habituated animal from a game preserve that had little fear of humans; the guy may as well have been hunting cows… Quoted for truth. Also, to those who have stated “what’s the big deal, lions aren’t even endangered?”. They’re not considered endangered yet but they are listed as vulnerable which is a step below endangered. Also, the listings are not entirely reflective of a population of animals, from IUCN redlist; > [@](#): > > The overall classification of the Lion as Vulnerable masks a dichotomy: we observe that sample Lion subpopulations increased by 11% in four southern African countries (Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe) and in India, while an observed decline of 60% in sample subpopulations outside these countries is inferred for the remainder of its African range. In other words, in the majority of its range the Lion meets the A2 criterion for Endangered with the inferred rate of decline over 50% in three generations, but this trend is numerically mitigated by a small number of subpopulations in a restricted geographical range. So their status doesn’t really matter, if the trend in population reduction continues it won’t be long before they are endangered. If we wait until every species hits that mark it will likely be too late to save most of them. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-whos-not-outraged-over-the-death-of-cecil-the-lion/726506/90 "2015-07-30T18:37:13Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > There is just something inherently broken about a human being who sees a beautiful animal and derives joy in killing it for fun. How can that be normal? I’ve never understood the mentality. I grew up in a hunting family and participated in my teens. My brother hunted all his life and always hunted for meat, but he always expressed how he would love to go to Africa and kill pretty much everything he saw. It’s a real disconnect from what he knows is right. ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-whos-not-outraged-over-the-death-of-cecil-the-lion/726506/91 "2015-07-30T19:01:04Z")
You know who doesn’t care about the dead lion in Zimbabwe? People who live in Zimbabwe: > **['What lion?' Zimbabweans ask, amid global Cecil circus](https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN0Q41UW20150730)** > > As social media exploded with outrage this week at the killing of Cecil the lion, the untimely passing of the celebrated predator at the hands of an American dentist went largely unnoticed in the animal's native Zimbabwe. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-whos-not-outraged-over-the-death-of-cecil-the-lion/726506/92 "2015-07-30T19:19:07Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > I am outraged enough to post to this thread, but no more. > > Regards, > Shodan I’m not even outraged enough to do that. . . . Fuck! ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-whos-not-outraged-over-the-death-of-cecil-the-lion/726506/93 "2015-07-30T19:49:18Z")
I just read that while the outrage continues about the lion, five elephants were slaughtered by poachers in a Kenya preserve on Monday night. The tusks go to the Asian market for “medicines”. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-whos-not-outraged-over-the-death-of-cecil-the-lion/726506/94 "2015-07-30T19:59:46Z")
And now assholes are attacking the hunters’ daughters’ dance business on yelp. People are awesome. > **[American Classic Ballroom - Victoria, MN](https://www.yelp.com/biz/american-classic-ballroom-victoria-2)** > > Specialties: American Classic Ballroom strives to offer the best ballroom dance instruction in the Twin Cities. We are an independently owned studio focused on the artistry, technique and expression of dance. Our professional instructors teach in a... ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-whos-not-outraged-over-the-death-of-cecil-the-lion/726506/95 "2015-07-30T22:03:57Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > It would be more sporting if it were more evenly matched. Like maybe hand-to-hand, or hand-to-paw. Ha ha ha. This one never gets old no matter how many times it is repeated. Well played. Bravo. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-whos-not-outraged-over-the-death-of-cecil-the-lion/726506/96 "2015-07-30T22:28:07Z")
My reaction was something like this: "Boy I bet there’s some antelopes high-fiving each other over this. It did not go over well with some of my friends. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![inscrutable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a88e4f/32.png) [@inscrutable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inscrutable)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-whos-not-outraged-over-the-death-of-cecil-the-lion/726506/97 "2015-07-30T22:59:02Z")
I’ve always hated dentists… ---
**Author:** ![Randolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Randolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randolph)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-whos-not-outraged-over-the-death-of-cecil-the-lion/726506/98 "2015-07-30T23:21:48Z")
Whoa, let’s not get all anti-dentite here. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-whos-not-outraged-over-the-death-of-cecil-the-lion/726506/99 "2015-07-30T23:25:21Z")
> [@Enright3](#): > > Lions aren’t on the [endangered species](https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/directory?direction=desc&sort=extinction_status)list. At the end of the day, it’s unfortunate that it happened, but I think there are a lot more directions in which to focus that anger. The hunting lobby tries its best to influence whether an animal gets listed. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-whos-not-outraged-over-the-death-of-cecil-the-lion/726506/100 "2015-07-30T23:44:05Z")
> [@Randolph](#): > > Whoa, let’s not get all anti-dentite here. No kidding. That piece of hate speech is too harsh even for the Pit. Let’s all calm down people. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-whos-not-outraged-over-the-death-of-cecil-the-lion/726506.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-whos-not-outraged-over-the-death-of-cecil-the-lion/726506.md?page=6)