Like most people who use the internet, I have been appalled by the news that a US dentist, named Walter Palmer went to Africa to torture and murder a defenceless and beautiful lion. Apparently Palmer now feels remorse. Remorse that what he did was illegal and that the lion he killed was protected. It shouldn’t make a fucking difference if the lion was protected or not! He travelled thousands of miles, to shoot an animal with a crossbow, leave it in agony for 40 hours, before blasting it with a gun and decapitating it. It seems like his business has now gone down the toilet as a result of negative publicity and protestors. What a shame. His life is ruined, but at least he has a life – unlike all the animals he so brutally slayed over the years, simply for fun.

This story has received so much publicity, and many people have rightly asked why everyone is outraged by it when animals get hunted every day. I suppose it is because in this instance, it brings home to us all how awful and barbaric hunting for sport is. It doesn’t necessarily mean any other hunted animal, such as a fox, is of less importance, or its murderers any less evil.

I generally believe that people who take pleasure in hunting an animal in the name of sport or entertainment are mentally unstable. Yes, it may be legal. Yes, their friends may do the same; but does that mean there is not something wrong in their head? The hunters will argue that this has been going on for thousands of years. Well, it’s time for a change. If they still insist on killing animals, make the sport a bit fairer and take away the hunters’ guns, replacing them with a simple pocket knife, then fight to the death – my money would be on Simba.

RIP Cecil