Minnesota dentist Walter Palmer paid an estimated $50,000 to kill Cecil after the lion wandered out of the protected range in Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe and into range of Palmer’s bow and arrow. Photo by Brent Stapelkamp/500pix Prime
David Cote, CEO of Honeywell, a company in the top tier of the Fortune 500, shot a white rhino and had parts of the prehistoric-looking animal made into two vases, an ashtray, and an ice bucket. How’s that for treating the natural world as your playground and reducing one of the most magnificent animals on the planet into an array of frivolous decorative items for your home?
On his trips to Africa, perhaps on the dime of Honeywell and possibly delivered there courtesy of the company plane, Cote also shot leopards and even some captive animals, including an endangered Bontebok and a black wildebeest. He didn’t restrict his killing to the southern hemisphere – he pursued and killed lots of animals in the top half of the world, from Alaska to Russia.
He’s hardly the only fat cat to use his wealth and privilege to spread suffering and death. Jimmy John Liautaud, CEO of the eponymous fast-food company, has killed enough animals to fill a museum – including a rhino, an African elephant, a leopard, and even a hyena. He also shot a lynx and a wolf. He had a compatriot in former GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons, too. In 2006 alone, SCI records show Parsons killed a kudu, an eland, a bushbuck, and a grysbok in Zimbabwe and even bison in the United States. In 2011, he posted a video of himself killing an elephant – a hunt that could have cost him up to $500,000.
But these guys are all pikers compared to Thomas J. Hammond, founder of Flagstar Bank, which in 2012 paid a $133 million settlement for predatory and fraudulent mortgage lending practices. Hammond has killed at least 13 African lions, 11 elephants, five leopards, and even a highly endangered cheetah, among thousands of other animals. In all, he claims he’s killed 314 different species. There’s a fellow who values biodiversity as his own personal grab bag.
Today, on the eve of the one-year anniversary of the slaying of Cecil the lion – an act that inadvertently threw back the curtain on the perverse subculture of high-price competitive trophy hunting with the United States as the top importer – The HSUS and Humane Society International release a report that reveals trophy hunting’s terrible foothold within the United States. It’s a realm filled with thousands of people pursuing the biggest animals in the world, in order to get into the record books, by killing enough animals to qualify for the “grand slams” and “inner circles” that secure their place in the Safari Club International’s pantheon of trophy hunting. The SCI’s awards include the “Africa Big Five,” “Bears of the World,” “Cats of the World,” and “Introduced Trophy Game Animals of North America,” which essentially requires the trophy hunter to shoot dozens of captive animals on American “canned hunting” facilities.
The post One year after Cecil’s killing, time to take aim at trophy hunting appeared first on A Humane Nation.
Related Stories
- Breaking news: Florida black bears get a 2016 stay of execution
- Obama signs measure to dramatically reduce animal testing
- As Yulin dog meat festival starts, poll shows overwhelming Chinese opposition to dog-meat-eating spectacle
Enviroshop is maintained by dedicated NetSys Interactive Inc. owners & employees who generously contribute their time to maintenance & editing, web design, custom programming, & website hosting for Enviroshop.