Quote:
Originally Posted by Rhettzky
Did the Giraffe have a name? If not then I don't think I care as much.
|
Quoting this post because it was the easier to find (call it the "Cecil" of the posts like it), but this is a general response to this sentiment.
The issue isn't that the lion had a name. It's that after 13 years of being part of conservation study in a protected area, he had grown a trust and affinity for humans which allowed tourists to be able to get closer than they normally would. He was semi-domesticated and trusted humans enough to be enticed out of the park by people in a jeep. That's the part that people are finding the most offensive (not that trophy hunting in general isn't bad enough).
The analogy that I keep thinking of is how in our back yard, we have a community of chipmunks. Most of them are pretty indifferent or afraid of us, but there is one (my wife named him Crackers) that will climb right on top of us and lets us hand feed him. If someone killed any of the chipmunks for fun, I think that would be terrible. But if someone enticed Crackers into their hands by using the built up trust, then tortured him for 40 hours before twisting his head off and posting it online, I think that would be way more evil.