Sir Roger Moore on Cecil: ‘Hunting Is a Coward’s Pastime’

 

Cecil the lion, a father and the defender of a family of dozens of cubs, was recently killed by a Minnesota dentist named Walter Palmer, who, along with his hunting party, tied a dead animal to a vehicle in order to lure Cecil out of Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe. He blinded Cecil with a spotlight and then shot him with a high-powered crossbow. Cecil hid in the bush, no doubt suffering greatly from a steel arrow in his body. When Cecil was found – 40 hours later – the hunter shot him and had him beheaded and skinned.

Sir Roger Moore added his voice to those of the many others mourning Cecil. In The Telegraph, he wrote:

In a world with boundless opportunities for amusement, it’s detestable that anyone would choose to get thrills from killing others who ask for nothing from life but the chance to remain alive. The animals whose lives he has so cold-heartedly snuffed out have precisely the same capacity to feel pain and suffer as we do. All leave family members or mates behind when they’re killed, and none is exempt from grief. Cecil’s death is particularly poignant, as he leaves behind two prides containing some 24 young or female members, whom wildlife experts believe may soon come to harm without his protection. So Palmer can add these innocents to his death count, too, even if he won’t have their heads to grace his wall.

“Sport” hunting is a sickness, a perversion and a danger and should be recognised as such. People who get their “amusement” from hunting and killing defenceless animals can only be suffering from a mental disorder. We know that we should protect the most vulnerable and helpless in society, not destroy them – much less derive pleasure from doing so. Thankfully, those of us with a conscience are appalled by the idea of gunning down animals for the sake of a thrill or a photo. Interest in hunting in Great Britain and elsewhere is steadily declining since decent people prefer to hike, take photographs, kayak and generally enjoy the outdoors without killing other beings.

For now, we can all fight this cruelty by joining PETA in calling on Zimbabwe to ban trophy hunting and on Europe and the US to ban the importation of trophies so that the global outrage which this case has generated can lead to real change – and so that this magnificent animal will not have died in vain.

You can read Sir Roger’s full article here.

And join him in asking the presidents of South Africa and Zimbabwe to stop allowing heartless hunters to murder Africa’s wildlife for “fun”: