Biden's HHS Sent Kids to Strip Clubs, Where They Were Pimped Out
Trump Has a New Attorney General Nominee
Is This Why Gaetz Withdrew His Name From Consideration for Attorney General?
Matt Gaetz Withdraws From Attorney General Nomination
ABC News Actually Attempts to Pin Laken Riley's Murder on Donald Trump in...
Here's Where MTG Will Fit Into the Trump Administration
Liberal Media Is Already Melting Down Over Pam Bondi
Dem Bob Casey Finally Concedes to Dave McCormick... Weeks After Election
Josh Hawley Alleges This Is Why Mayorkas, Wray Skipped Senate Hearing
MSNBC's Future a 'Big Concern' Among Staffers
AOC's Take on Banning Transgenders From Women's Restrooms Is Something Else
FEMA Director Denies, Denies, Denies
The System Finally Worked for Laken Riley -- Long After Her Entirely Avoidable...
Gun Ownership Is Growing Among This Group of Americans
We’ve Got an Update on Jussie Smollett…and You’re Not Going to Like It
Tipsheet

NYT Publishes Op-Ed by Zimbabwean Defending Cecil the Lion's Hunter

Goodwell Nzou, a Zimbabwean student studying in the United States, has a message for Americans in today’s New York Times: Zimbabweans don't give a hoot about Cecil the lion.In short, Nzou says that Zimbabweans had no special affection for Cecil (or any particular lion), and are at a constant risk of being killed or maimed by them on a daily basis. Nobody cares that he was killed, and the western media is making a huge deal out of something insignificant.

Advertisement

From the piece: (emphasis added)

Cecil who? I wondered. When I turned on the news and discovered that the messages were about a lion killed by an American dentist, the village boy inside me instinctively cheered: One lion fewer to menace families like mine.

My excitement was doused when I realized that the lion killer was being painted as the villain. I faced the starkest cultural contradiction I’d experienced during my five years studying in the United States.

Did all those Americans signing petitions understand that lions actually kill people? That all the talk about Cecil being “beloved” or a “local favorite” was media hype? Did Jimmy Kimmel choke up because Cecil was murdered or because he confused him with Simba from “The Lion King”?

In my village in Zimbabwe, surrounded by wildlife conservation areas, no lion has ever been beloved, or granted an affectionate nickname. They are objects of terror.

Nzou isn’t the only Zimbabwean who feels rather “meh” about the whole incident. It’s been pretty widely reported that Americans were far more upset about this than people who actually live in Zimbabwe.

Since Cecil was hunted, many airlines have banned the transport of trophy animals. (This ban is more symbolic than anything else for some airlines—American Airlines, which doesn’t go to Africa, was quick to jump on the “banning” bandwagon, for instance.)

Advertisement

It should also be noted that Robert Mugabe, the corrupt dictator ruling Zimbabwe, slaughtered and ate a baby elephant for his birthday feast—and received a gift of a stuffed lion only a few months ago. There was minimal outrage over this, despite the fact that a dictator of one of the world’s poorest countries threw himself a lavish party that sounded like something out of an Onion article.

I don't have many strong feelings regarding Cecil the lion. Apparently Zimbabweans don't either.

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Recommended

Trending on Townhall Videos

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement