As the Internet Mob rages against the American dentist who killed the famed lion, Cecil, there is a new potential target for its ire: The hunter’s “glamourous” wife.
Tonette Palmer was formerly the vice president of a family-run import and export company although recent employment records list her as secretary for a Minneapolis real estate developer.The mother-of-two seemingly shares her husband’s zeal for killing wildlife, with public records revealing that she has held as many as seven sport licenses entitling her to fish in Florida and hunt in Alaska.Her husband’s numerous kills – all by bow and arrow – include a moose, a buffalo, a polar bear and a mountain lion.Their two homes are thought to be crammed with stuffed heads and mementos from his safari slaughter spree, with more items stored in his personal office at his dental surgery in Bloomington, Minnesota.
Egads! How dare this woman have hunting licenses!
The piece goes on to reveal that the dentist, Walter Palmer, and his wife enjoy $1 million home filled with hunting trophies.
Based on this article, the media seems to be expanding its net of outrage to include Palmer’s children, too, as it describes the marriage of his daughter. Fueling the fire of environmental justice outrage that is now consuming Palmer and those close to him, the report is essentially nothing more than a caricature of a rich, selfish family completely devoid of compassion for nature.
Full disclosure: I am a huge fan of cats…of all sizes. As much as I am outraged at the alleged way that Cecil was hunted, I am more angered by the lack of media perspective.
One story that seems to have been sucked down the black hole of meme history is the fact that lions kill humans, too. It appears that the death of Katherine Chappell has been completely forgotten.
This is the horrifying moment a lioness reared up and mauled to death an American tourist after she stopped to take a photograph in a South African safari park.Standing on its hind legs, the lioness is seen peering into the vehicle seconds before it attacked Katherine Chappell, an editor on hit TV show Game of Thrones, through the open window.Engineer Ben Govender, 38, who was in the car behind Miss Chappell, said ‘no one could have imagined’ what would happen in the minutes after he took the extraordinary photograph.He described the ‘terrifying’ scene as he watched the animal take its first bite out of the passenger on the back seat before retreating from the vehicle, blood dripping from its mouth and paw.
One of the rangers at the park where Chappell died indicated that tourists viewed their facility as Africa’s equivalent of “Disneyland”. And while Lion Park has enhanced its precautions, it is apparent that the attitude that lions are just bigger versions of cute and cuddly house-cats is entrenched.
This viewpoint has real world consequences in America, too. For example, California banned mountain lion hunting through a voter initiative, and as described in a book that tackles this topic (“The Beast in the Garden”), these big cats are becoming habituated to humans with clearly foreseeable consequences.
A 6-year-old boy is in fair condition after surviving a mountain lion attack on Sunday.The family was on a hiking trail near the Picchetti Winery in Cupertino, Calif., when the lion grabbed the child.”He was basically somewhat dragged through part of the brush,” Fish and Wildlife Warden Travis Jarrett told KRON-4. “Multiple family members then came to his aid, fought off the attacking mountain lion, then the boy was basically transferred to a local medical facility.”
As a side note, a mountain lion was recently seen strolling through a shopping center that I sometimes use. Truly, this is not the type of cougar normally seen in southern California malls!
Bureaucrats in many Western states have been hampered in attempts to cull mountain lions that have hunted pets and livestock and are losing their fear of humans to the point that we are now prey. Despite the fact citizen hunters have volunteered to remove rogue animals threatening the safety of children, hikers, and taxpayers, it appears that those in charge of our parks are much more fearful of environmental activists.
Given the level of outrage directed at Palmer and his family, I suspect that the numbers of those willing to hunt lions, mountain lions, and other big cats will be substantially reduced in the future. Who wants to be burned at the stake of Internet Mob Justice?
This over-reaction will have an array of unintended consequences that will adversely effect Americans, Africans, and the big cats as well. The dentist’s wife is not the last sacrificial victim.
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