Twitter, Facebook and the world of news today has been outraged at the death of a Lion called Cecil in Zimbabwe, whose fate was sealed when American dentist Walter Palmer paid £32,000 to shoot it with a bow and arrow. The lion in question was 13 years old, lived in Hwange National Park and had a GPS collar as he was part of a study at Oxford University. He was cruelly (and illegally) lured out of the park to be killed by Mr Palmer and his two Zimbabwean hunters who are now facing poaching charges in court. The Metro this morning published photos of Mr Palmer next to Cecil's lifeless corpse, as well as photos of him posing with a dead leopard, white rhino, bighorn sheep and African buffalo. What could possibly drive a person to pay so much and take pleasure in killing such majestic creatures is beyond my comprehension. Mr Palmer had the audacity to state: "I had no idea the lion I took was a local favourite and part of a study until the end of the hunt", although this did not stop him from decapitating Cecil with the intent of keeping his head as a trophy. The fact that a lion (or any animal) is not part of a study should not be a reason to justify its death. Mr Palmer has it so wrong.
The African Wildlife Foundation states that 85% of the African Lion's historic range has already been lost, making them more vulnerable to extinction along with other iconic wildlife such as the black rhino and African elephant. In this particular case it is quite upsetting that Cecil was the alpha male of his pride and the father to 6 young cubs which are now likely to be killed by the remaining males. Infanticide is common in lions to ensure the remaining males are the ones to pass on their genes to the next generation, so Mr Palmer has effectively killed 7 lions in one go. Whilst it is great that this case has got so much media attention, the senseless murder of defenceless animals is incredibly widespread, not only in Africa but across the world. Mr Palmer has had much backlash on his social media pages and is likely to lose a lot of business from his dental practice. Hopefully making an example of this man for demonstrating how wrong the world of trophy hunting is will dissuade others from committing the same senseless, murderous crimes in future.
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Great news appeared on the TIME website recently: "Wild Panda's making a comeback in China" with an increase of 268 individuals across their 27 giant panda preserves since 2003.
Pandas are the epitome of cuteness and global branding - they are even the logo of the WWF, a charity I personally support. In China, they are a much loved native cuddly species, greatly protected at a substantial cost. They are a distinctive species, only found in China, and have previously been given to other countries as gifts or peace offerings. However, it was not always like this. Pandas used to be poached excessively for their fur and their populations diminished greatly. The WWF now estimates the Giant Panda population to be around 1826 in the wild, with the recent increase being attributed to greater public awareness in China for the need to conserve their charismatic species. The irony here is that whilst China has been working so hard to preserve the panda, they seem to have turned a blind eye to the rampant illegal wildlife trade which is diminishing the populations of thousands of animals worldwide, including, but certainly not limited to, pangolins, sharks, seahorses and rhino. The soaring demand in China is leading to more species becoming critically endangered, simply because their body parts are consumed as delicacies or claimed to be everything from hangover cures to aphrodisiacs. A perfect example is their excessive demand for ivory. The Guardian estimates that Elephant ivory prices in China are around $3,000 per kilo, and CITES data suggests up to 20,000 elephants are killed yearly to fulfil the demand in China, which has lead to their extinction in some countries. Is it then fair to say China is protecting their main charismatic species whilst decimating the population of another charismatic species abroad? Well, yes. China has experienced rapid economic growth over the last few years, and the excess money of the super-rich is being spent satiating their need to display higher status, for example, with shark fin soup at weddings, or to keep their libido high with powdered rhino horn "medicines". Whilst they are fast to protect their beloved panda, more has to be done to raise awareness and educate the Chinese as to the horrendous consequences of their current actions around the world and lower their demand for animal products. Stricter legislation must be put into place and more wildlife rangers need to be on the ground in order to further lower the trade. If even a fraction of the money they spend yearly on ivory was plugged into protecting those very elephants, and the hundreds of other species that are being exploited to extinction, then I am sure they would follow in the panda's footprints and see growth in their wild populations. |
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