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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to feel quite sorry for Walter Palmer?

270 replies

TwistInMySobriety · 29/07/2015 08:40

Not very sorry what with him being a humungous twat for liking big game hunting, obviously. But seriously, worldwide opprobium and trial by media for partaking in a legal activity (he claims his permits were legit) that is a significant income stream for an impoverished third world country?

Also, while I'm at it, the death of a lion makes headlines? When did you last see a headline about the deaths of six million people in the civil war in the DRC?

OP posts:
LazyLouLou · 29/07/2015 09:07

I loved his apology.

Had I known it was a well known lion that was tagged and part of a study I would not have shot it - I blame the guides

So he isn't sorry he shot a lion badly but he sorry he shot that lion badly, presumably because it has caused him a bit of trouble.

I did like the picture of the two 'hunters', complete with cuddly toys, stalking his home though Smile

juneau · 29/07/2015 09:10

YABVU. He's a rich, entitled arsehole who flew all the way to Africa to realise his dream of murdering some poor animal that was just going about its business, so he could feel like the big hunter he is in his dreams. He's not the first rich, American arsehole to do this (and before you all accuse me of American-bashing, I AM American), and I don't suppose he'll be the last, but if outing him for his disgraceful, arrogant behaviour gives other arseholes like him pause for thought in their big game hunting plans in future, I think that's a wonderful thing. And if his business happens to fail and he go bankrupt and lose his house then I, for one, will not be shedding any tears. In this life you reap what you sow.

NameChangedBecauseThisSucks · 29/07/2015 09:11

It isn't disputed that he lured the lion out with a carcass. Even he hasn't tried to deny it, I believe there is film footage and the tour guides have admitted to it.

They've given a detailed account of using bait to remove the lion from the area, shooting it with a cross bow and watching the lion as it didn't die but walked round presumably in a lot of pain, and that shooting the lion with a rifle 40 hours later. They've admitted that they conducted the hunt at night so that people wouldn't see them luring the lion out.

The news may well get some facts wrong, but it doesn't appear that they have here. The important facts have been accepted by Walter and his guides, and the court.

lionheart · 29/07/2015 09:11

No, but then I really cannot comprehend the mentality of someone who hunts like this.

It is possible, however, that what he has done will raise the profile of conservation for a little while even though it won't stop wealthy and destructive people paying for the privilege of killing.

FarFromAnyRoad · 29/07/2015 09:14

Well said juneau. I'm afraid I can't find the words to adequately express how I feel about this sorry excuse for a human being. I've tried. I can't.

I hope beyond hope that he lives to regret this for the rest of his days. I don't give a flying fuck what he 'thought' about permits etc. Not a fuck. There's not a permit on earth that would make this ok.
May he rot in a living hell.

Petridish · 29/07/2015 09:16

It reminds me of a horrid man who was married to an ex boyfriend's mother. He bragged about killing big game in Africa.

The irony was that the bf's mum was a vegetarian on ethical grounds - I couldn't work her out at all.

I think a lot of his boasting was pure fantasy - he was a bit odd. He even bragged about shooting his own dog, the tossed.

ginmakesitallok · 29/07/2015 09:18

I have no sympathy for him whatsoever.

derxa · 29/07/2015 09:19

He's a complete arsehole.
What annoys me in addition is the anthropomorphism. Calling the lion 'Cecil'. He is a wild animal not a pet.

Andcake · 29/07/2015 09:20

No don't feel sorry for him! Hope the backlash stops other idiots doing the same

drudgetrudy · 29/07/2015 09:22

YABU-I don't feel the tiniest bit sorry for him.

DayLillie · 29/07/2015 09:26

He thinks it is ok to shoot lions, and with a crossbow at that. I don't feel sorry for him.

That £35,000 he was willing to blow on shooting a wild animal that was procured for the purpose would have gone a long way in conservation.

The lion has been lost, the research project he was in compromised and the cubs will probably not survive. His actions have far reaching consequences. If he had put as much effort into finding out about the lions in Africa as he put into finding someone to let him shoot one, which is not mainstream, then he would have been wiser.

On the radio, they said that in SA, they breed lions that they release in a confined area for people to shoot. A bit like a pheasant shoot here. Mad, Mad Mad!!!!!!!!!!!!

Atomik · 29/07/2015 09:26

Also, while I'm at it, the death of a lion makes headlines? When did you last see a headline about the deaths of six million people in the civil war in the DRC?

The world proffers an endless stream of misery. Quite a lot of it generated by our species. A massive chunk of that misery leaves us feeling powerless, helpless and hopeless because there are just too many interested parties and long complicated histories involved to provide a fast solution that will hold. Not least because allegedly well intentioned solutions in the past have come with a side order of "unintended consequences that made everything differently awful, or worse".

Which is perhaps why stories like this get so much oxygen. It's one of the relatively few cases where a difference can be made. Somebody who did something awful and unnecessary faces consequence. The social sanction (peer pressure on steroids) will make other people think twice before making the same choices as him. Because this is a context where the "perps" have an awful lot to lose for the sake of some twisted entertainment/ego boost.

So I don't think this is getting so much attention because as a species we think one lion is more important than six million humans dying in a civil war. I think it is possibly because it offers the chance to react with power and effect change without having to wait for our Dear Leaders to come up with a cunning plan (that usually doesn't work) .... rather than once again hear awful news with helplessness knowing there is fuck all we as "the little people" can do about it.

MemphisBella · 29/07/2015 09:29

Twist - he's a very rich man. Redundancies could be paid/ new jobs found for employees.

I appreciate the point you are making, but he should have thought this through first. As with other leaders (business, political or other) who display dubious ethical codes, I doubt the validity of them staying in affluent positions solely for the benefit of their their employees.

I think at the very least, and on top of legal proceedings, a very large donation to a related charity should happen.

DJThreeDog · 29/07/2015 09:29

Having only seen the headlines, I would be inclined to agree with you. He shot a wild animal legitimately.

HOWEVER if everything (or even some) of what RepeatAdNauseum says in his/her post is true, then I don't.

I simply can't get my head around this hunting for hunting's sake, but it's not illegal.

LibrariesGaveUsPower · 29/07/2015 09:31

He is an entitled arse. I think he deserves everything coming to him.

Just because something provides an income stream to an impoverished area doesn't mean it's ok. Breaking the rules designed to protect that habitat makes it even less ok.

TheTravellingLemon · 29/07/2015 09:32

I'm watching this at the moment. So awful. I can't understand people who would want to do this. I can't understand someone who would spend all that money to take another life. I can't understand why you would leave an animal to suffer like that for 40 hours. I cant understand why you would think that it being legal (even though it wasn't) in any way makes it ok. It's all just beyond my comprehension and as far as I am concerned YABU.

PeterParkerSays · 29/07/2015 09:35

The crossbow was used because it's a silent weapon - he deliberately chose it over a shotgun which would have given him away.

I can understand that he asked the guides to find him a lion, which they did, and when it was dead he realised that it had a tag on it and thought "oh &%" as he realised he'd be in the doo-doo. Does that warrant him sympathy? No, he's just sorry he got caught.

PeterParkerSays · 29/07/2015 09:37

&% was supposed to be an expletive but two * signs make a bold don't they, sorry it no longer makes sense.

OttiliaVonBCup · 29/07/2015 09:37

He's a fucking arse and I hope he does time in prison.

Killing endangered animals for what?

Tiny willy syndrome, I suppose.

Twat.

juneau · 29/07/2015 09:37

FFS it wasn't legal!

He lured an animal out of a protected park, where it lived, for the express purpose of murdering it.

And he did it at night, which is also illegal.

OttiliaVonBCup · 29/07/2015 09:38

Do you feel sorry for him OP?

You must be his mum, surely no one else will.

Original poster
TwistInMySobriety · 29/07/2015 09:40

We know that now Juneau. My point is that that wasn't established when the story broke and the media went to town on it. Judging by this thread, some posters believe in inflicting a long, slow death penalty for hunting even when it's done perfectly legally. Which is kind of ironic, really.

OP posts:
DJThreeDog · 29/07/2015 09:44

I think he should be punished to the extent of the law but all this talk about killing him etc is not on.

lutra3d · 29/07/2015 09:45

From the BBC

'Separately, court records have shown that the dentist has a felony record in the US after killing a black bear in the state of Wisconsin in 2006.
He was given a one-year probation and fined $3,000 (£1,900), having shot the animal outside an authorised zone and then trying to pass it off as having been killed elsewhere.'

Vile

RepeatAdNauseum · 29/07/2015 09:45

£32,000 to shoot a lion...