It is now being reported that Zimbabwe is demanding the extradition of Dr. Walter Palmer to face what laughingly passes for its justice system.
As you probably know, Palmer is the Minnesota Dentist who went to Zimbabwe to shoot and kill a trophy animal, and wound up killing “Cecil the Lion”, which, we are told, was an iconic creature which should not have been shot at all.
Let me stop here and point out that I think Walter Palmer, whose idea of a good time is to hunt down and kill an animal which is defenseless against human weaponry, is a world class jerk. And that, believe me, is the nicest thing I can say about anyone who does the same. Killing for food is understandable. Killing for sport is unconscionable.
That said, however, why did Palmer go to Zimbabwe to kill a lion?
The answer: because it is LEGAL to go to Zimbabwe and kill a lion. All you need is the proper documentation (which, I\’m sure you have already guessed, costs a lot of money) and the assistance of guides who can take you to an animal you can kill (which, I\’m sure you have already guessed, costs a lot more money).
Want to know how much? The going rate for a 10 day “find \’em and kill \’em” safari in Zimbabwe is US $49,000. Palmer claims to have paid $55,000.
The only reason that Walter Palmer killed Cecil The Lion is because the guides he paid for took him to Cecil instead of a different lion.
And the only reason any lion or other animal in Zimbabwe is killed for sport, is that Zimbabwe legally allows it and profits handsomely from it.
So now, embarrassed by the fact that Cecil\’s killing has exposed its dirty “pay to slay” industry, Zimbabwe is effecting outrage, and wants to divert attention from its own policy by putting the wood to Palmer, whose $55,000 it happily took for the legal “right” to do what he did?
Zimbabwe\’s government should be told by the Obama administration, in whatever diplomatic language it can devise – or maybe no diplomatic language at all – to go screw itself.
