Cecil the lion: It's time to lift the lid on hunting greed and this whole sick scam

[Triana]

This isn’t about one lion. It is about humanity. What we are. Who we are, what we value and where we are going.

The slaughter of Cecil the lion should highlight all the other animal atrocities in the world, says presenter Nicky Campbell


Cecil the lion: Now is the time to talk about hunting

But why has the story of Cecil the Lion been so big? I saw some ever-so smart commentators on social media saying “shut up about a lion – there are more important things in the world”.

. . .

This isn’t about one lion. It is about humanity. What we are. Who we are, what we value and where we are going.

There are plenty of voices bemused by the impact of this story. There are so many other animal atrocities that have been relatively ignored.

The industrial slaughter of African elephants for Chinese trinkets and its graphic brutality.

The annual dolphin slaughter in Taiji, the destruction of our closest relatives chimps, bonobos, gorillas and the burning out of forests of desperate orangutans clinging to their babies.

Why Cecil? It’s because this has been an awakening. Through Cecil, people have woken up to the fact that Africa is being emptied of animals.

THE REST:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/cecil-lion-its-time-lift-6179390

[LiberalElite]

1. K&R!

[NCarolinawoman]

2. Wish I could give you a million recommends!

[Triana]

3. Please share these donation links instead. :)

I set up a donation page for WildCRU - lion research and conservation

https://wildcru-cecil-the-lion.everydayhero.com/uk/sevenbowie (UK)

OR:

http://www.oxfordna.org/giving_how.htm (select WildCRU in the dropdown list) (US)

ALSO worth noting:

An American billionaire agreed to match donations to WildCRU up to $100,000 (all the billionaires aren't rotten, this one has some empathy and sense)

The killing of Zimbabwe’s beloved Cecil the lion by American dentist Walter J. Palmer sparked an international outcry against hunting big cats and created a wave of support for their conservation.

Researchers at Oxford’s Wildlife Conservation Unit, or WildCRU, who had been tracking Cecil since 2008, say on their website that they have received almost $470,000 since his death. Aiming to increase this number even further, billionaire philanthropist Tom Kaplan and his wife Daphne, longtime supporters of Big Cat conservation, announced on Friday that they would pledge to match donations up to $100,000.

In a statement on the WildCRU website, Kaplan said the pledge would go towards helping the organization reach their target of half a million pounds.

A longtime supporter of animal conservation, Kaplan created his charity Panthera in 2006 to help protect the world’s largest and most endangered cats including tigers, lions, jaguars and snow leopards. The study that WildCRU is doing, of which Cecil was a part, is actually being done in partnership with Panthera, which endowed it, according to Kaplan. It’s part of their ‘Leonardo Project.’

THE REST:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/janeroberts/2015/07/31/billionaire-who-funds-cecil-the-lions-researchers-speaks-out-offers-matching-grant/

[pipoman]

6. So people are sending Oxford elites hundreds of thousands of dollars

While it is Zimbabwe which sells hunting tags for big game as a source of revenue. I have heard outrage, but most stop short of actually putting money where their feelings are....poverty, corruption, but above all poverty and despiration is why this is what it is.

[Triana]

10. Oh FFS. It goes to study and CONSERVATION efforts, not into "elites" pockets.

They are working WITH Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority and local governments and with local economies and farmers to curtail poaching activities. This organization is one of the top in the world.

At the WildCRU, in the Recanati-Kaplan Centre at Oxford, we are studying lions in various parts of Africa to uncover the science that will inform and underpin their conservation. This is urgent, because lion numbers are precariously low, estimated at fewer than 30,000 across the continent and we have evidence that there are actually fewer. We have worked on the lions of Hwange National Park, with the support and collaboration of the excellent Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority. Our goal is to understand the threats that lions face, and to use cutting-edge science to develop solutions to those threats. Our work is scientific, we have satellite-tracked the movements of over a hundred lions and monitored every detail of the lives of more than 500 individuals, but WildCRU’s work is also highly practical – we run a courageous anti-poaching team, a local conservation theatre group, and education campaign that gets information into every school in the district, and we work with local farmers to help them live alongside lions and improve their livelihoods.

. . .

Cecil's apparently illegal death is tragic, but many people have asked us if any good can come of it. First, it is amazing that this episode has heightened awareness of lion conservation worldwide. Supporting conservation is the purpose of our work – conservation involves huge challenges, both in the science and the practice, and we are deeply grateful for the public interest and support. Second, people have asked if they can support our work through donations – the answer is yes, urgently, and we rely entirely on philanthropy. Donations could support the purchase of more satellite tracking collars, support of our field vehicles and field staff, also, very importantly; we train wonderful young Zimbabwean conservationists, bringing some of them to Oxford on scholarships for world-class training in conservation.

LINK: http://wildcru.org/

If you have other suggestions, by all means contact them and tell them (though whatever they are, no doubt WildCRU is probably already doing them) or provide them here, but please do not execute these narcissistic drive-bys to fling crap all over the efforts of others trying to do something constructive to save our endangered wildlife in Africa and elsewhere in the world.

[pipoman]

11. Nobody has said it isn't a good cause

It isn't going to do shit to make Zimbabwe not need to sell what they have to people willing to pay for it.

Donations could support the purchase of more satellite tracking collars, support of our field vehicles and field staff, also, very importantly; we train wonderful young Zimbabwean conservationists, bringing some of them to Oxford on scholarships for world-class training in conservation.

[tularetom]

4. I think it would be very interesting to ask our presidential candidates their opinion

of the death of Cecil the lion. And what should happen to his killer.

Especially our Democratic candidates.

It might open a few eyes around here.

[glinda]

8. I have wanted Bernie to issue a statement of some sort.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

5. The "Great White Hunter"....

How they see themselves:



How the world sees them:

[IHateTheGOP]

7. Mankind is a plague on the earth and it doesn't have to be that way.

[glinda]

9. +1

[IcyPeas]

12. it IS about humanity. /nt