Community Chat

[NickNack]

@Pearlee  I just read the article about this in the Washington Post.  That was the first article that came up in my search.  It's just tragic that this happened and is allowed to continue.  One thing I was glad to read that I didn't know was:

"Some U.S. airlines, including Delta, now also refuse to carry “Big Five” — lion, leopard, elephant, rhinoceros and buffalo — wildlife trophies to the United States. A federal appeals court this spring upheld Delta’s ban after several hunting organizations challenged its legality."

[Pearlee]

@NickNack  Thank you!  I didn't know that either! I'll have to go read the Washington Post article now.  I hope you are glad you read it and aren't more upset than from what you read here on the board.

[NickNack]

@Pearlee  I'm glad I read it.  It had more details than I've read here and wasn't anymore upsetting.

[Pearlee]

@NickNack Actually, being longer, it was more upsetting than the Daily Mail article!  I'd forgotten how a new male lion will come in and kill the cubs of the deceased lion.  The Daily Mail didn't go into that again (like when Cecil died and everyone worried about his cubs) and hadn't mentioned that Xanda was in charge of his pride of lions, hence endangering his cubs now from a new male lion; Ugh.

This article did point out what I've been saying. The authorities knew a lot of the pride was outside the protected area often - then do something about that!   And they should raise the age of the lions that are allowed to be killed.  As the WP article pointed out, the male lions are in their prime then   This whole thing is just awful.  And clearly not much changed in Zimbabwe after Cecil's tragedy and all that outrage.

[ROMARY]

Sorry, I cannot read the original post/thread or any of the replies.  It really makes me sick to read the title.  I'm only guessing that they aren't keeping Cecil's children in a separate area, away from hunters.   Makes me wonder about how they are working things over there.  Wishing the other  adult cubs and all of the 'guarded' animals better luck.  p.s.  Nothing derogatory regarding the O/P and this thread.  It's just that it's very upsetting to me to hear about such sad news.  Thank you for bringing this thread to others and/or the next generation who might be able to change and improve the present security at these preserves/reserves.  I'm sure that many around the world are sending out plenty of messages and suggestions.   Wishing them all well.

[NickNack]

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@Pearlee wrote:

@NickNack Actually, being longer, it was more upsetting than the Daily Mail article!  I'd forgotten how a new male lion will come in and kill the cubs of the deceased lion.  The Daily Mail didn't go into that again (like when Cecil died and everyone worried about his cubs) and hadn't mentioned that Xanda was in charge of his pride of lions, hence endangering his cubs now from a new male lion; Ugh.

This article did point out what I've been saying. The authorities knew a lot of the pride was outside the protected area often - then do something about that!   And they should raise the age of the lions that are allowed to be killed.  As the WP article pointed out, the male lions are in their prime then   This whole thing is just awful.  And clearly not much changed in Zimbabwe after Cecil's tragedy and all that outrage.

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@Pearlee  Yes, the part of the article that explained about the new male possibly coming in and killing the cubs was upsetting.  I really wish there was something that could be done to protect them.  I may be missing something, but how would a hunter know that a lion was six years old?  I think they should just outlaw the whole thing, but that will never happen. 

[colliegirls]

Those hunters are disgusting.

[LyndaGee]

Very sad.  Shouldn't be allowed.

We used to order our heating oil from a certain company around here, but when we found out the owner is a big game hunter, dropped them pronto.

[Pearlee]

@ROMARY  To respond to something in your post, the articles have stated that the lions often wander off the reservation so to speak; that is, out of the protected area. Although Cecil was lured out of the protected area, the current claim is (which I'm not at all sure I believe) is that the lions have "often" wandered out of the protected preserve  - and not by much either because this cub was killed not far from where Cecil was. It was  a "legal kill."

So my response is that if the authorities know that, why aren't they doing more to protect these lions?  That is, make the protected area larger.   Or something - anything to protect them.   Best yet, ban the hunting altogether.    But this story is tragic because the authorities knew the lions have been wandering off - they can keep track of them via their monitoring devices that have been attached to them (which is how they knew this was one of Cecil's lions).