Tired of ads? Subscribers enjoy a distraction-free reading experience.
Click here to subscribe today or Login.

The American dentist who shot and killed a lion named Cecil apparently went into hiding earlier this week, driven underground by irate people calling for a piece of the man’s hide.

Celebrities from Sharon Osborne to Ricky Gervais assailed the trophy hunter, who apologized via a statement that said he was duped by his Zimbabwean guides and didn’t know the majestic animal had been part of a research program and allegedly lured off a reservation.

The social media lynch mob was not appeased.

Comedian Jimmy Kimmel launched into a series of scathing jokes about the hunter, then momentarily choked up when calling for contributions to wildlife conservation efforts. As a result of Kimmel’s promotion, an initial $150,000 reportedly streamed into Oxford University’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit.

Not since the early days of the Jerry Sandusky sex-abuse scandal at Penn State University, or perhaps the universal drubbing of ex-Clippers owner Donald Sterling, has so much hate and vitriol been directed at a single person. In times like this, guilt is easily assigned and perspective quickly lost.

The despised dentist reportedly paid about $55,000 for his conquest, supposedly one of many such hunts in which he has participated. He will have to live with his choices.

But we – all of us – make choices, too. And, guess what? Those choices increasingly make our planet, and our relatively small part of it called Pennsylvania, uninhabitable for species other than ourselves. In short, we kill.

We destroy animal habitat to make way for our homes, shopping centers, office parks, drill pads and roads. To keep our lawns green and “healthy,” we cover them with fertilizers, insecticides and herbicides. We crank up the air-conditioner and rev the car engine, releasing pollutants into the air. We insist on blemish-less apples at the supermarket. We use shampoos and face creams with plastic particles that swirl down the drain and then flow, well, wherever it is the water goes next.

Meanwhile, the honeybee population mysteriously declines. The number of monarch butterflies on the East Coast nosedives. Bats succumb to a mysterious disease.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission maintains a list of many of the state’s endangered species, which includes the northern flying squirrel, the black tern and about 20 others. Six species are classified as threatened. Separately, the state Fish and Boat Commission keeps a tally of endangered amphibians, reptiles and fish. And the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources tracks imperiled plants.

Globally, an estimated 200 or more species (plants, trees, insects and other animals), possibly thousands, are lost from the face of the Earth each year, according to information supplied on the World Wildlife Fund’s website. Some extinctions would occur naturally even without human interference; however, people are responsible for the more rapid pace of decline.

Should we mourn the needless slaughter of a single African lion, one that rightfully should have been safeguarded? Yes.

But let’s not be naive: There is more than one great hunter on the loose. And plenty for which to be ashamed.

https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_Zimbabwe-Lion-Killed_Jone1.jpg.optimal.jpg