Walter Palmer, the Minneapolis dentist who killed Cecil the Lion in Zimbabwe, has resurfaced and granted what he says will be his one and only interview. Dr. Palmer, as you know, has been the target of much vitriol. Regarding the amount of it directed at his friends and family, he says, "…I don't understand that level of humanity to come after people not involved at all."
He's right that that's wrong. But like you, I couldn't help but read that line statement and think, "I don't understand that level of humanity to think it's sport and a matter of great pride to go out and kill an animal like that."
I believe Dr. Palmer is the victim — and I'm not using that word in a sympathetic way here — of a sudden change in public opinion. People like him go out and hunt and kill and stuff animals all the time. Things about this particular kill — Cecil's age and fame and protected status and such — made a lot of people decide that killing any animal like this was kind of repulsive and that maybe there was something wrong with a person who would do it.
Dr. Palmer may well be right that it was entirely legal. The interview suggests no charges or extradition are in his future. But he's wrong if he thinks Big Game Hunting hasn't suffered a severe wounding in the court of public opinion.
It's interesting to me how values and views change. I remember when smoking was cool and even admirable. Or when wearing fur coats made of real fur was attractive and glamorous. Or when public drunkenness was a lot funnier than it is today. At some point, much of the world began looking at those things in a different way and now, a lot of people who do smoke are ashamed of it and a lot fewer fur coats are sold or worn and there's no new Foster Brooks out there. I think hunting — all hunting for recreation — is joining that list.
My friend Roger thinks it's some form of imposed Political Correctness. I see it as people changing their minds the same way they get sick of certain kinds of TV shows or music or styles of clothing. McDonald's hasn't changed but a lot of people are deciding it isn't their kind of place anymore. That happens.
The interviewers apparently didn't ask Dr. Palmer if he intends to display the mounted head of Cecil among other trophies of which he is or was very proud. I'm guessing he won't…and that in the years to come, he'll be less proud of those others. And while he may keep all those dead animal heads on his wall and regard them with pride, I'd bet a lot of other hunters won't. I think an arrow has been shot into that "sport" and we can all just track it for a while and watch it die a slow, painful death.