Full disclosure - my personal reaction to his is grief, and I hadn’t even heard of Cecil until he passed. I do recognise him as a frequently photographed lion, and for that reason find it hard to believe that the dentist (who sure seemed to go hunting a lot) did not know who he was. But there’s grief, because lions in general are amazing, and I believe that this shooting is symptomatic of our society’s relationship with animals.
From my limited understanding of law, the legal and animal rights views should agree that this action is not lawful (but for different reasons). Legally - I’m guessing here - Cecil was the property of the Zimbabwean people. He was a tourist draw, and arguably worth a great deal to their economy. So, isn’t this is the destruction of a valuable asset, similar to if someone bombed a building? And for the dentist to claim ignorance of who the lion was, isn’t this still gross negligence for which he is responsible? Legally, I can see it as different to the public dismemberment of Mariusz the giraffe, because Mariusz was the property of the zoo in question.
Viewed from an animals rights perspective, then of course this is a horrible occurrence. I am concerned though because I think any scapegoating is not appropriate. There is a lot of societal anger which is strange in the context of it being something that is happening all the time (i.e. animal deaths at the hands of humans) on a horribly large scale – but Cecil’s passing is like a celebrity death. Animal advocates seem to be aware of this, and are fanning the outrage to put the larger framework of animal rights in the public eye. This has meant that now the dentist himself is in possible danger. This seems to me an injustice to Cecil, and the pride that relied on him. Animals have shown in experiments and in their actions that they are capable of forgiveness and compassion and are not interested in the concept of revenge but rather, survival - in my mind, any action that threatens the dentist does not honor Cecil, but is really just done for people’s sake.
I am really hoping that there are consequences for this action – I hope that the dentist meets proper justice. Cecil’s pride now has to face an uphill battle to survive his death without him to protect him, and there is already one less lion in the world. The Zimbabwean people have lost a symbol of pride. Prayers up for Cecil.