I viewed this 20/20 episode, this past weekend. Of course, all details of the reenacted hunt were speculative. I do applaud 20/20 for having the Zimbabwean citizen, who gave his perspective/true, view of lions. Also the famous lady hunter's perspective was also much appreciated. In my opinion, it could have been much more one-sided, for the antis, than it ends up being. Kevin
I agree that it was nice to see them interview the Zimbabwean student that wrote the Op Ed in the NY Times and the lady hunter as well as the ranch owner in TX to give some perspective in favor of sport hunting. Even the leader of the Oxford study group that collared Cecil said at the end the banning trophy hunting would devastate the wildlife in Africa. However, he said that he wants to see Lion hunting banned.
Even with all of this, it was a fairly anti hunting piece written to project human emotions onto the animals by using human names and saying thing like "these zebra and giraffe would have been neighbors of Cecil and used to seeing him around the water hole every morning" as if they are people in a neighborhood and ignoring the fact that the lions would be working to eat these animals so they would not have been happy to see him necessarily. They also portrayed the actual hunt the same way a murder investigation would have been shot and edited for shows like Dateline NBC or another similar program giving viewers the impression that Cecil was purposefully targeted by these guys and they then laid a trap and ambushed him. Again, placing human connotations on everything.
If that dentist and the ph/outfitter did something illegal they should be prosecuted, but what I don't like is that Oxford hippie, yes we see them comes and go.... would like to meet him and tell him : Stupid boy ! Learn something before you put your nose in front of a camera !
I've reported guys poaching redfish in Texas. My brother is retired USFWS and made major busts in Alaska and Wyoming.
If these guys are guilty, then they need to be prosecuted and we as hunters need to be on the lead in that effort. But, until they are guilty in a court of law, they are innocent. I will watch to see what happens to the landowner and PH.
I agree with everyone here. I do think it was one sided though.. And I think we all know which liberal agenda side it leaned toward. As far as that Oxford trained mutt is concerned he needs to restudy wildlife conservation and tell folks without hunting and the dollars it brings in he might be out of a job one day. It's clear what his position is on hunting.
No doubt it was mostly one-sided with the anti hunting crowd. However, the Oxford guy actually does say at the very end of the full 1 hr show that wildlife would be decimated if trophy hunting were fully banned and explains the "if it pays, it stays" mantra for African conservation. This surprised me as a bit of honesty. However, He still stated that he thinks all lion hunting should be banned. Not sure how he doesn't see the "if it pays, it stays" working even more so when it comes to big predators like lions versus an antelope or zebra.
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