Zimbabwe has expressed an interest in having the dentist Walter Palmer be extradited to that country to face charges for illegally killing Cecil the lion. They have already arrested the owner of the land on which the lion was killed and the leader of the hunt.
Jonathan Turley says that the US has an extradition treaty with Zimbabwe and that the rules allow for extradition provided that the act involved is a crime in both countries. The charge in this case (hunting without necessary permits) would seem to qualify.
Any US court can hear the charge if it agrees that there is sufficient evidence to sustain the charge and that extradition is warranted, it then hands the matter over to the Secretary of State. The US government has to agree to hand the person over to the foreign government and this could be an issue. The main thing working in Palmer’s favor is that Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe is seen in the US as such an authoritarian figure that it may be politically difficult for the US government to be seen as cooperating with him, however vilified Palmer might be.
Meanwhile, let us not forget that Palmer is by no means the only, or even the worst, person guilty of wantonly killing rare animals just for the fun of it. Turley points to another American doctor Jan Casimir Seski who is also accused of illegally hunting a lion with a bow and arrow in Zimbabwe. His guides have also been arrested.
Then take a look at the ‘trophy room’ (a strange name for what is effectively a tomb) of a Texas oilman Kerry Krottinger.
One can see how this can lead to a kind of competition among people with a particular mindset, each one of these Hemingway wannabees seeking to outdo the other in the number and kinds of magnificent exotic animals that they have ‘taken’ (the euphemism trophy hunters use for killing) as trophies.
It is macabre.
I don’t understand the point of trophy hunting, but getting rich assholes to pay for hunting permits can help conservation efforts if it’s done correctly.
There are occasionally members of rare/endangered species that are detrimental to the survival chances of the group, typically these take the form of older bulls that are unable to breed, but still act in an aggressive territorial fashion and prevent the younger animals from mating. In these cases, the relevant animals have to be taken out of the population for the good of the species as a whole, so the choices are either to have a game warden just shoot them, capture & ship them off to a zoo or something or auction off the right to kill them to some rich asshole with a death fetish.
That was the case with the much publicized black rhino hunt earlier in the year, which resulted in something like $350k going to conservation efforts as it was all done legally and they made sure they killed the right animal.
In an ideal world, it wouldn’t be necessary, but if conservation efforts are going to remain underfunded, I don’t have a problem with them raising money this way even if I can’t fathom the idea that someone would pay for the right to kill anything.
“a kind of competition”
They’ll never beat Kaiser Wilhelm II.
http://www.historyinanhour.com/2012/01/27/kaiser-wilhelm-summary/
http://www.royal-menus.com/#!kaiser-wilhelm-ii—1909/c1qu4
Can we give the lions, tigers and bears, oh my, guns as well? That would make it fair when these scummers want to take the life of a majestic animal to compensate for their tiny cocks. Hunting for food? Awesome! I love me some Bambi burgers. Hunting to put up a carcass inside your house? Eat a bag of dicks >.<
New rule: if you want to hunt lions, tigers, bears, etc., go ahead. But the only weapons you will be allow is two knives, no longer than the claws of the animal you want to kill. If you can succeed, then you can truly consider yourself a ‘mighty hunter’.
The photo makes it hard to tell: is the presumed Mrs. Krottinger ambulatory, or has her hunter-husband stuffed her and mounted her like all the other Trophies in his Room?
Pierce R. Butler: She’s a trophy too, confirming what a manly man he is.