Peters Shoots and Misses With Cecil

It’s funny that a sitting US Senator from Michigan, one of the nations top three hunting states with hundreds of thousands licensed hunters is openly stepping up to oppose hunting and put in danger populations of African Lions.

I am not surprised that Junior Senator Gary Peters made the emotional decision to back legislation that would ban the import and export of Lion parts to the United States. After all I doubt Peters knows much about hunting at all, for if he did he would not support such bad legislation with such potential to negatively impact the African Lion.

Anyone who bothers to do even a cursory bit of research would find in a very short time that sport hunting is the main reason some species are even around today. The Greater White Rhino is one example of an animal that has been saved by sport hunting. In fact it’s numbers are on the rise as a result of hunters.

Banning importing Lions would deem them useless in many parts of Africa and their numbers by conservative estimates would plummet from over 30,000 in the wild today to less than 15,000. Peters bill is so bad in fact it could push Lions to the brink of extinction.

It’s time to put away the tissues for Cecil and get back to the actual science of managing wild species. America has led the world in this category for well over a century. Believe me Senator Peters you have no idea what you’re doing on this one. Please leave the science to those who understand it.

For an even better explanation read this article I wrote a while back on the matter of Cecil. http://wjimam.com/killing-lions-is-good/

And don’t get me started on the baby elephant feast enjoyed by Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe in March- or the lion (just like Cecil) killed and stuffed just to stand at the front door of the party.