Showing posts with label earth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label earth. Show all posts

Sunday, August 2, 2015

The World Mourns the Killing of #CecilTheLion

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The world is mourning the death of majestic Cecil the Lion of Zimbabwe, seen here in his prime:



This magnificent creature was slain by dentist Walter Palmer of Minnesota, who paid $50,000 to guides in Zimbabwe who lured Cecil out of a game preserve merely to shoot him and cut off his head for a trophy. When the guides realized the lion had been collared by an Oxford group doing research on lions, they dumped the collar and proceeded to behead and skin Cecil, but the Zimbabwe government seized what was left of the creature and did not allow Palmer to keep his kill.

From CNN
Palmer is in the public crosshairs after the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force said Cecil the lion was lured out of an animal sanctuary in Zimbabwe and shot with a crossbow.
But his death wasn't immediate.
Cecil lived another 40 hours until the hunters tracked him down and shot him with a gun. He was then skinned and beheaded.
The hunters also tried to destroy the GPS collar that Cecil was wearing as part of research backed by Oxford University, the conservation group said.
. . . Above the menagerie of stuffed animals at the door, posters now cover the front facade of the practice.
One sign asked, "Dr. Palmer, why did you kill Cecil?" Another said, "Rot in hell." A third employed the hashtag #catlivesmatter.
The vitriol for Palmer even flowed from the governor's mansion.
"I'm just so disgusted with that man," said Gov. Mark Dayton. "Shoot any lion but lure a lion like that out of the preserve and shoot him, how could anybody think that's sport? Just appalling."

When word of this senseless death hit the news and social media, all hell broke loose for Mr. Palmer, as it should.








Palmer, left, poses with an earlier lion he killed.






Believe it or not, even though the hunt went completely wrong, Walter Palmer wanted to keep on hunting and asked to shoot an elephant next. Apparently he doesn't give a crap about the rare animals of Africa or the world in general. But now the world cares what happens to Palmer and would love to see his ass in jail.

IB Times
Walter Palmer, the U.S. dentist who killed the lion Cecil in Zimbabwe, wanted to shoot a “very large elephant,” his guide and professional hunter Theo Bronkhorst told the Daily Telegraph Thursday. Palmer has gone underground amid an international outcry over the illegal hunt of the "iconic" lion.
Bronkhorst told the Telegraph that after killing the lion in Hwange National Park, Palmer asked him if he could find an elephant whose tusk weighed at least 63 pounds. "I told him I would not be able to find one so big, so the client left the next day," he said.
Prosecutors charged Bronkhorst Wednesday for failing to prevent Palmer from unlawfully killing Cecil. However, they are yet to charge Honest Ndlovu -- a second suspect and farm owner -- who has been named as an accomplice. Ndlovu appeared in court Wednesday.
The Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force said Tuesday that Palmer -- who paid $50,000 to kill Cecil -- and his group tied a dead animal to their car to lure the lion. According to the Safari Operators Association of Zimbabwe, drawing in animals with a bait is unethical. The association, of which Bronkhorst is a member, has revoked his license.


Talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel highlighted the death of Cecil by asking for donations to the group studying the lion and his pride: Wildcru.org





Statement from famous naturalist Jane Goodall:
I was shocked and outraged to hear the story of Cecil, Zimbabwe’s much loved lion. Not only is it incomprehensible to me that anyone would want to kill an endangered animal (fewer than 20,000 wild lions in Africa today) but to lure Cecil from the safety of a national park and then to shoot him with a crossbow...? I have no words to express my repugnance. He was not even killed outright, but suffered for hours before finally being shot with a bullet. And his magnificent head severed from his wounded body. And this behaviour is described as a “sport." Only one good thing comes out of this – thousands of people have read the story and have also been shocked. Their eyes opened to the dark side of human nature. Surely they will now be more prepared to fight for the protection of wild animals and the wild places where they live. Therein lies the hope.
Jane Goodall, Ph.d., DBE
Founder, the Jane Goodall Institute &
UN Messenger of Peace







From the Born Free Foundation:
Following the tragic and reportedly illegal killing of Cecil the lion, Born Free Foundation and Born Free USA today called on the US Government and European Union to take urgent steps to end the import of lion trophies and for an international moratorium on lion hunting.
The global outcry following Cecil’s death has sent shock waves across the world and has further ignited the political and public debate on the plight of wild lions and the inhumane actions of sport hunters.
. . . President of the Born Free Foundation, Will Travers OBE, has publicly called on the hunters to lay down their weapons of mass destruction. “Cecil's story has sickened and saddened us all. We can no longer accept that hunting magnificent wild animals for ‘sport’ can be deemed acceptable. Cecil's death was brutal and it showed no respect for this iconic symbol of Africa. Trophy hunting is no sport; it is merely a disguise for killing to massage an ego.”
Born Free is calling on the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to release its Final Rule on the petition to list the lion as ‘endangered’ under the United States Endangered Species Act, first submitted by Born Free and others in March 2011. Listing under the ESA would prohibit wounding, harming, harassing, killing, or trading in lions, except under certain very limited conditions, and would add significant protection for lions across their range.
Further, Born Free is calling on US Government prosecutors to explore whether legal action against Mr Palmer is warranted under the Lacey Act, which prohibits transport of wildlife specimens if they were taken illegally in their place of origin.



Zimbabwe would like a few words with Dr. Palmer, as well as our own U.S. Fish and Game service.






























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Saturday, June 9, 2012

Drill Everywhere Says Romney

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Governor Romney will permit drilling wherever it can be done safely, taking into account local concerns.
~ Romney Spokesperson Andrea Saul in the Washington Post

(Obama) said he was going to create some 5 million green energy jobs. Have you seen those around here anywhere? No, as a matter of fact he’s going after energy. He says he for all of the above when it comes for energy, you heard that. And yet he’s made it harder to get coal out of the ground, he’s made it harder to get natural gas out of the ground, he’s made it harder to get oil out of the ground.”
~ Mitt Romney in Craig Colorado, May 29, 2012

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NOT SO FAST . . .

I want the drilling to stop but they won’t listen. I am sad about the fracking. … It breaks my heart. I want you to come to Erie, Colorado, and ask all the oil and gas companies to leave. We can’t continue to destroy the Earth.
~ 6-year-old Olivia Cusimano in a letter to President Obama on May 26

It’s the industrialization of the forest lands.
~ Kate Wofford, director of Shenandoah Valley Network that seeks to protect forest at the headwaters of the Potomac and James rivers, which supply drinking water for Washington and Richmond.

Unconventional hydrocarbon shale gas extraction is the single greatest catastrophe facing Pennsylvania since the turn of the century when the timber barons clear-cut our forested watersheds and the coal barons strip mined our lands for coal and gave us the legacy of acid mine drainage.
~ Bill Belitskus, board president of the Allegheny Defense Project

If you give away our forest, we don't own it any more....The Bureau of Land Management is not your boss. You must tell them, 'No more leasing of our forest lands,' now.
~ Roxanne Groff, Commissioner of Athens County, Ohio, pleading with a National Forest Official to halt the lease of lands for natural gas fracking

In response to public outcry, the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management on Friday postponed an auction of 43,000 acres of the Talladega National Forest for oil and gas exploration, which had been scheduled for next week.
~ The Birmingham News

From the Locust Fork Alabama Gazette Journal ~
Senator Gerald Dial of Lineville, Alabama, introduced this resolution in the state Senate.

EXPRESSING OPPOSITION TO THE JUNE 14, 2012, OIL AND GAS LEASING ON ALABAMA’S NATIONAL FORESTS BY THE UNITED STATES BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT.

WHEREAS, Alabama national forest land is an important source of drinking water supplies, fish and wildlife habitats, hunting and fishing, and other outdoor recreation that contribute to the local economies in the state and the quality of life for Alabamians; and

WHEREAS, on June 14, 2012, the United States Bureau of Land Management is scheduled to offer over 43,000 acres of Alabama national forest land for lease for oil and gas development; and

WHEREAS, much of the land to be leased is underlain by shale geological formations, a potential source for natural gas that is to be extracted by a drilling process known as horizontal hydraulic fracturing; and

WHEREAS, some of the national forest land to be leased for drilling is located near a potential water supply source for the City of Anniston, other municipalities, and users including, but not limited to, Fort McClellan, the Anniston Army Depot, parts of the City of Oxford, Blue Mountain, the City of Jacksonville, the Calhoun County Water and Fire Protection Authority, Hobson City, and the City of Weaver; and

WHEREAS, some of the national forest land to be leased for drilling contains popular recreation areas, trails, and streams used for swimming and fishing; now therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA, BOTH HOUSES THEREOF CONCURRING, That we hereby oppose the sale of oil and gas leases to parcels of Alabama national forest land on June 14, 2012, by the United States Bureau of Land Management.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That we urge the United States Bureau of Land Management to act to protect drinking water resources and other important forest, water, and economic resources by removing all parcels located in Alabama national forests from the June 14, 2012, lease sale.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a copy of this resolution be provided to each member of the Alabama Congressional Delegation.


Talledega National Forest
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