Our hearts are broken. All of us who share a reverence for the lives of God’s creatures, great and small, grieve.
Someone wrote on Facebook today “Can one lion wake the World?” I think the murder of Cecil has begun to do just that. Everyone, everywhere, who has access to the media, knows about this beautiful, cherished lion who roamed free in a protected park in Zimbabwe. I like to think that the native African drums will send the message ’round the world that their beloved Cecil is dead.
The slaughter of wildlife continues. Poachers and trophy hunters pay big prices for their right to kill. Who gives them this right? God? They say they are protecting wildlife by shooting wild animals because they have paid big bucks to do so. They say the money goes back into the protection of wildlife.
Baloney, I say.
Since the first white man went into the wilds of Africa, we have been killing the animals off. Theodore Roosevelt, a big game hunter, justified his kills by sending the slain ones, stuffed by a taxidermist, back to the Museum of Natural History in New York.
I remember once, a long time ago, taking a little boy to see this exhibit. I bow my head now as I remember his beautiful innocence.
“Are they dead?” he asked me.
A friend and I were on safari two years ago. We were in Zimbabwe, but we did not meet Cecil. However, in a park in Botswana, we did see a magnificent old lion resting with his mate after feasting on a kill. The meat belonged to them to kill. They have no trophy rooms.
The photograph this week for “All Four Feet” is of that noble creature. To think of his head or any wild animal’s head on a wall, or of a wild animal as a rug on the floor, makes me ask forgiveness for us all for the way we’ve treated nature, given to us as stewards to keep safe.
The story of Cecil has now been told around the world. I truly feel, since his death, that the world’s animal lovers are growing in number. Dear Cecil, we know you have not died in vain. Your death has given us another wake-up call. That call has been given so many times over the years by men and women like Peter Beard, who wrote “The End of The Game.”
We have been warned again and again about climate change. We have been warned over and over about the “end of the game.” Is it possible that one beloved lion could unite us all to begin to demand – not with words only – an end to the destruction of our planet?
We pray.
Please know, peoples of Zimbabwe, that we grieve with you about the death of your Cecil. We share your loss. Many of us hope that you will bring the killer to justice. I believe the world will help you do this.
