Hot Pursuit

By now most of you have likely heard or read about Cecil the Lion. While I feel for the lion, the reaction it has caused is outrageous. 
In July, an international furor came about over the killing of a collared lion in Zimbabwe. The lion died at the hands of a Minnesota dentist, who is dealing with the fallout by having protestors outside his dental practice in the Twin Cities. He has even been getting death threats and his family has been attacked through social media. 
“Murderer! Terrorist!” one angry protester hurled and screamed during a recent protest.
Within hours of Dr. Walter J. Palmer apologizing for killing the lion, he went from a dentist and longtime hunting enthusiast to a villain at the center of a firestorm over the ethics of big-game trophy hunting. 
I am dismayed by the controversy that the killing of the 13-year-old lion named Cecil has caused. It certainly is not a good thing for any hunter out there, but seriously, why waste our time and efforts to protest about a lion.
It’s troubling to see all the outrage, hatred and hyperbole that the lion killing has stirred up around the country. The outrage is grossly out of proportion to the tragedies that occur all over the world. 
What about getting upset over domestic violence and how four family members lost their lives at the hands of their father and husband last week in the Twin Cities? Where’s the outrage when we lose around 150 people to drunk driving on Minnesota roadways every year?  Where is the outrage when nine people are killed in a church? More than 80 police officers have been killed in the line-of-duty so far this year across America. Why don’t people get outraged about things like that? 
It makes me wonder if we have really become an apathetic society, at least when it comes to the human race.  
The reaction about Cecil the Lion is characteristic of our American society today. I don’t understand why some of these people think that the life of an animal is more important than a human being. I grew up around animals on a farm and grew quite attached to some of them. But never once did I ever put the life of an animal before a human life. It makes absolutely no sense to me at all. 
It’s interesting to note that most, if not all, of the adverse reaction comes from urban people, who have no direct connection to the farm and the growing of crops and livestock. They are out of touch when it comes to the realities of nature. I love the “common sense” approach that folks in the country have and the way they care for each other. 
The level of humanity shown with Cecil is appalling. I don’t understand why the world gets so upset about one specific animal, when so many others have met similar fate.
Humans never cease to amaze me. The Cecil killing is just another example of how many in the human race are putting their priorities in all the wrong places and letting their halfhearted and unconcerned emotions towards fellow humans get the best of them. 
Perhaps it’s time to go in hot pursuit of taking on a worthy cause that will benefit the human race rather than some prized lion in a foreign country.