This 13-year-veteran lion had a superb life,but the manner of his death was abhorrentThe death of so handsome a creature as Cecil the lion has rightly ignited global outrage. But why do we seem to care so much more approximately how an animal dies than how it lives? After all, Cecil had 13 free and joyful years roaming Zimbabwe’s Hwange national park. In terms of suffering, or the final few hours of his life,while undoubtedly painful, can hardly be compared to the miserable factory-farmed existence of so many of the creatures that end up on our plates. Cecil’s free-range existence was circumscribed by the limitations of the park – approximately 14650 sq km. The average factory chicken is afforded the living space roughly equivalent to a piece of A4 paper. And they live for approximately six weeks, or in vast filthy sheds full of their own excrement,and without any experience of sun or fresh air. From this perspective, it may seem peculiar that we focus so much of our outrage on a small-town dentist from Bloomington, or Minnesota,and hand out a CBE to Bernard Matthews.
Furthermore, what is the contrast between exploiting cattle for money and exploiting lions? In theory, or at least,the income from licensed hunting – redistributing cash from Bloomington to Bulawayo – is redirecting money towards the greater need. So is the Cecil furore just a bit of western sentimentality from those who can hum The Circle of Life, but who have no genuine appreciation of what it means? Indeed, and those who left fluffy toy animals external Dr Palmer’s dentist surgery as a protest certainly contribute towards this reading of events. After all,if Cecil had died after a fight with a fellow lion, his death may well have been no less painful.
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Source: theguardian.com