The story of the Minnesota dentist who killed Cecil, the lion, by bow and arrow has forced me to delay posting the Blog I had written for today.
This man may not have done anything illegal, but he will never undo the moral damage to himself he has done. It doesn’t matter to me that he relied on his African guides to ensure he was killing a lion legally.
The fact is, he was killing a lion, period, for no reason other than the sport of it.
Had he not killed Cecil, but some unsuspecting lion or lioness not living in a protected area, the outrage should have been the same.
Safari hunting is both primitive and morally offensive under any circumstances.
Frankly, I feel the same way about any kind of hunting for sport. Killing an animal for the sheer enjoyment of taking the shot, whether with a bullet or an arrow, is a sick way to find pleasure.
Hunting for food is one thing. Hunting for sport is barbaric.
I said years ago in a lecture on peacemaking that I believed anyone who killed for sport would with a slight change in circumstances kill me. A few hunters in the audience took great offense at that, but I stood by what I said then and I do now.
If you are of the mind and heart that watching something die for no reason other than your having the power to make it happen, it would not be a giant step for the situation to arise that would cause you to kill another human being before thinking it through.
I don’t say this because I am a pacifist. Nor does it have anything to do with knowing that if someone you loved were threatened you might be willing to kill to protect them.
No, what I am talking about is what killing for sport does to a person’s character. It damages a person in unseen ways they do not even realize themselves. How do I know? Because they kill for the pleasure of killing. No one with a strong moral character can do that.
But that aside, the fact is, hunting for sport is totally and absolutely pointless. There is not one redeeming quality about it.
That the world is outraged about what this man did is a good thing. Demonstrations have already begun outside his office here in Minnesota. Whatever public scorn he gets is well deserved.
But hunting for sport will continue, and not just in Africa. It happens because of men (and even some women) who dare to call themselves “sportsmen.”
I think they give the word a bad name. They are not “sportsmen.” They are “little boys” pretending like they are real men.
The truth is, they will be real men only when they grow up.
linnposts.com 
Thanks for writing this blog,Jan. It’s feel heartsick and enraged by this man’s actions.
So happy to read your thoughts on hunting because I feel the same way. I have never understood the sport! Thanks, Jan.
Jan,
You already know my feelings of outrage and anger over this despicable act.
Your denunciation of this man(sic) and those like him is well-said. As a good man of God, you stop short of saying the things I might say about what punishment this scumbag should receive.
His backstory indicates a pattern of bad behavior, and when he says “the lion I took” or the “taking of this lion,” I cringe at the euphemism and wonder if he even knows the meaning of “to kill” (i.e., end the life of).
The more I learn about this guy, what he did, how he did it, etc., the angrier I get. And, as you say, it’s not just him, but all the sick people like him who find pleasure in the sport(sic) of hunting, bringing back trophies to put above their mantels to prove their “manhood.” [Freud got it]
If this person should somehow “disappear,” I would be delighted. And if the whole business of big game hunting could be eliminated, the world would be a better place.
A colleague of mine at work once told me that people who are wantonly cruel towards animals end up as killers of human beings.
Sometimes game wardens in over-populated deer areas want hunters to lower the herd numbers. This is not an issue with African wildlife that I know of–poachers take elephant tusks for sport. Buyers of ivory generally are from Asian countries. Change the culture of ivory-value to cut the poaching.
Also in the news is selling unborn baby parts for “sport,” when there’s even haggling over the price. Those babies have MOVED in the womb, have a heartbeat, fingernails. Fifty percent of our population have an outcry about that; the other 50 percent say it is “choice.” Not the “choice” of the child; the “choice” of the mother who is “inconvenienced” by her pregnancy. FOR THE MOST PART, there is NO medical reason for these killings, not even Downs. People who approve of, accept killing of infants in the womb are degenerate in the value of life. However, evil will exist, because those same baby-takers will have back-alley abortions regardless, in order to “save face” for themselves when they “made a mistake.” They made the mistake long before conception by their own actions. But refuse to accept and live with the Consequences of their behavior–that’s the requirement for adulthood, living with the consequences of one’s own behavior. They disregard options to having the child they conceived, and opt for killing the baby. As awful as big-game hunting is, little people killing is even worse.
You have said nothing to address my Blog, instead using it as a platform to espouse your anti-abortion views. In doing so you insult the character and intelligence of good people who believe in a woman’s right to choose what happens to her own body. No one supports selling baby parts for the best price. This is an outrageous and egregious lie. Nor does Planned Parenthood support such a thing. This is the kind of right wing propaganda that makes people like me reject anything you say as worth listening to. So if you want to rant on about something, get your own Blog, but stay off of mine.
I saw another similar response to the “Cecil ” incident – a false equivalence to abortion – on a FB comment denouncing the hunter. I responded denouncing the whole PP argument and its relevance. Very odd for people to pair these two wholly different activities. But, then again, odd thinking and values, wrestling with old and immature thinking and values, are part of this whole piece. Thank you for your thoughtful commentary.
Well-said, Robert. As often is the case, Jan “gets it” on levels most people are oblivious to.