Case Study 11.2 4 THE DENTIST AS LION KILLER Walter Palmer is not your ordinary

Question

Case Study 11.2 4 THE DENTIST AS LION KILLER Walter Palmer is not your ordinary dentist. Instead of playing golf to relax, Palmer kills large game animals using only a bow and arrow. His trophies include an elk, a bear, a leopard, a bison, and, most recently, one of the world's most famous lions. Palmer paid $55,000 to hunt a lion in Zimbabwe. According to reports, Palmer's Zimbabwean guides lured a large black-mane male out of a national park (where it was protected) onto private land by tying a dead animal to the side of a vehicle. Palmer then shot the lion with his bow, but it survived. After two days of tracking, a professional hunter finished the kill. Palmer took the head and skin, leaving the rest of the carcass to rot. Word soon spread that Palmer had killed Cecil, an iconic lion who was a favorite of park visitors and locals. Cecil was part of an ongoing lion study by Oxford university researchers and he was equipped with a GPS collar at the time of his death. Soon the dentist-hunter became hunted himself. Angry activists took to social media to attack Palmer and to shut down his website. Protestors picketed his dental office in suburban Minneapolis Minnesota and set up a makeshift memorial of plush toys and flowers for Cecl 402 PART IV Shaping Ethical Contexts

Explanation / Answer

1. The social media outrage was a result of people's feelings being hurt by the killing of endangered animals for pastime and pleasure which is completely unethical. Ths media outrage was more intensified because the lion in case was a celebrated one and was a part of research studies.

2. The lion was given much importance because of its celebrity status. As regards the people of Zimbabwe, nothing in the world can justify killing of endangered species for making money for sustaining a huge population of deprived, ill and poor people. The people themselves are partly responsible for their misery, not the animals. Human encroachment in the animals' territory leads to conflict between the two. Instead they should have promoted tourism to make money instead of inviting people to kill the animals and get money in bargain.

3. Trophy hunts can not be termed as ethical in any case except in the case where the population of animals is increasing at such a pace that it threates the human existence. Since it is not the case, the shrinking population of animals can't be driven to extinction to pamper the fancies of rich.

4. The difference in cultural values is a result of poverty, misery and helplessness of the zimbabweans, who would naturally be concerned more with the survival of humans rather than lions. On the othe hand, Americans can proudly procaim their cultural values because they are well off and least affected by this kind of conflict between humans and animals, and can express their opinions rationally. The same rationality can not be afforded by Zimbabweans, for whom the priority is their survival against all odds, not the animals.

5. The authorities can promote sustainable measures of employment generation for the locals by promoting wildlife related activites like tourism, cottage industries and other activites that can help the population to be self reliant. They can also initiate massive awareness programs about AIDS and invest in education to address to the root cause of situation. Most importantly, the uprooting of corruption by stringent measures from the governments, can make the situation much better and addressable.

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse C
• Subjects

---

---

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.