Bob Edwards: Ten Years And Counting

 ~”Cecil was a beloved African lion who rose to fame in 2015 after he was lured outside the protected area of Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe, and killed by an American trophy hunter named Walter Palmer.”~ Robyn White, Newsweek

Journalistic ethics has required your correspondent to sharply reduce this issue’s snark level out of respect for Cecil. This July is the 10th anniversary of his passing, an appropriate time to remember what was done to him in the name of “sport.” For, if remembering how Cecil was killed, decapitated and skinned still turns readers’ stomachs, maybe it’s time to make some Good Trouble and – finally – ban hunting.

In a nation where 45,000-plus humans are shot to death every year, continuing to exempt hunting from conversations about our pervasive culture of gun violence suggests an absurdity: That in order to have rational gun safety laws, gun fanciers must be allowed to use their guns to kill something. Else what’s a gun for? 

Thousands of beautiful wildlife creatures are legally shot to death each year – for “fun.” As a central tile in America’s sprawling mosaic of violence, hunting is indeed the Dead Elephant In The Room. (It’s OK – my English teacher said that mixing metaphors is bad, but not particularly sinful). 

Relevant is a 2009 National Institute of Health paper noting in part:

“Cruelty to animals . . . is defined as treatment of animals that causes gratuitous, unwarranted or unjustifiable suffering or harm (including death). Animal cruelty is gaining recognition as a serious social issue that may be reflective of more extensive psychopathology at the individual level . . . In 1987, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Third Edition-Revised (DSM-III-R) incorporated animal cruelty as a diagnostic criterion for Conduct Disorder (CD) and Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD).”

Not all hunters have “disorders” but there is reason to wonder why hunting is defended by otherwise nice people who seem unmoved by the fact that the ‘virtues’ attributed to this blood sport can be realized without shooting living creatures to death.  Some examples:  

•     “Hunting gets people into Nature and teaches youngsters about the outdoors.” (As does hiking, camping, eco-tourism, etc.) 
•     “Hunting promotes marksmanship and firearm safety.” (Visit a shooting range and take gun safety lessons.)
•     “I eat what I kill.” (Safeway is cheaper, quicker, safer and open 24/7.) 
•     “My hunting license fees support wildlife conservation.” (Conserve wildlife by not killing it; donate those fees to the SPCA.) 
•     “Hunting controls species overpopulation.” (As do natural eco-systems; hunting disrupts them.)
•     “I hunt because I enjoy seeing wildlife.” (Shoot it with a camera and enjoy the pictures forever.)
•     “Hunting is a manly part of a boy’s growing up.” (Learning to shoot living creatures to death is not a healthy Rite of Passage.) 
•     “Hunting is our American heritage!” (Ditto slavery, Native American genocide, lynchings and other dark stains on our national past.) 
•     “Hunting aids rural economies” (Money was a core Confederate argument in defense of slavery.)
•     “The 2nd Amendment guarantees my right to hunt.” (No, it doesn’t.)

Excuses for hunting in the 21st century are endless, and unconvincing.  Hunting is a penultimate act of animal cruelty, underscored by the worldwide revulsion over Cecil’s murder. Perhaps when hunting is recognized “as a serious social issue that may be reflective of more extensive psychopathology at the cultural level,” we can begin to reduce the gun-death toll among humans. If so, that big, beautiful furball won’t have died in vain. 

Hey . . . at least it’s worth a shot.