Is it because he has a titchy willy?

I refer, of course, to Mr. Walter Palmer of Bloomington, Minnesota, a tooth-puller by trade and an animal killer by inclination.  He is the proud owner of the head of 'Cecil the Lion', a favourite, apparently, of tourists visiting a National Game Park in Zimbabwe.  (Couldn't they have come up with something more, er, 'butch' as a name than 'Cecil' for such a magnificent beast?)  Here is a photo of him lying down with one of his 'pals', courtesy of The Mail which has the full story:

 

Apparently, 'Little Willy' Walter Palmer and his Zimbabwean guide went in for some dodgy practices in order to lure 'Cecil' out of the Park area where hunting is forbidden and thus allowing 'Little Willy' to shoot the beast with a crossbow.  This only wounded the animal and they had to track him for a couple of days before finishing him off with a rifle.  He was then beheaded and skinned.

'Little Willy' has previous in this kind of thing, pleading guilty a few years ago to lying over an infringements of rules in an American Game Park.  Here he is with another trophy:

What a 'He-man'!

Now I stand before you, so to speak, conflicted (is that the correct word these days?) over this story.  I am well aware that 'Cecil' was definitely no 'Goody Four Paws'.  His kill rate amongst all the other 'cuddly-wuddly' creatures in his 'hood was pretty huge.  But at least he did it out of necessity. He did it to stay alive.  'Titchy Willy', on the other hand, carries out his slaughter for - dread word - fun!  Or perhaps pleasure is a more accurate word because there is, one feels after looking at various pictures of 'Little Willy' and his dead trophies, something distinctly masturbatory about this practice.  Notice, for example, that he strips off to the waist before hugging his dead leopard and flexing his muscles.

Now, as I indicated, I am at risk of sounding hypocritical because, for example, I support the practice of hunting foxes on horseback here in the UK.  So, as someone else said not too long ago in a different context, "What, at this moment, does it matter?"  Well, I can only dissolve into utter soppiness and produce one word - beauty!  You really do need a heart of stone - and a very small willy - to deliberately stalk and kill an animal of such awe-inspiring beauty.  And it's not as though you require any courage to do it.  Armed with an enormously powerful rifle and with a couple of equally well-armed guides there is little or no chance of the hunter suddenly becoming the hunted.  It is cold-blooded slaughter.

What interests me now is whether or not the Zimbabwean judicial system will seek the extradition of 'Little Willy' and if they do, what will be the re-action of the (non)Justice Department of the USA who are so fond of reaching out world-wide for the collars of those they accuse of wrong-doing.  Will they allow 'Little Willy' to be extradited?  Don't hold your breath!

 

Comments

[Whitewall]

He is a pathetic little man.

[missred]

Yes, he is a pathetic little man, but I also want the "guides" he used to be prosecuted as well. He did not do this alone.
I believe in two kinds of hunting - for food and the cull the herd. Almost every year Maryland has a problem with too many (adorable bambis) deer. While the destruction of private gardens is one thing, they also destroy the farm fields. There comes a point in time when the slaughter on the highways is too much and they must be culled to preserve the herd. Too many bleeding 'arts don't understand that.
I also understand the problems those (adorable) foxes inflict upon the farmers who raise sheep and cattle. Again - culling for survival of a different sort.

[David Duff]

You are exactly right, Miss Red, and happily I can tell you that both the guide and the owner of the land onto which 'Cecil' was lured have both been charged by the Zimbabwean authorities. And you are right to stress the legitimacy of culling animals that cause problems. I should add that my 'humbuggery' is showing over foxhunting. Personally I wouldn't do it myself and I am aware that the hunters are not engaging in it out of agricultural reasons but simply for the 'sport' but it is part of our heritage. However, it is equally true that foxes do cause a great deal of damage and farmers are keen supporters!

[Lawrence Duff]

He's got the hunting gene.

Makes him different from the rest of us. He can't understand us, and we can't understand him.

Probably 1 in 4 have it, recessive, so needs both in place for the predisposition to present as a characteristic.

Suited the gene pool when we were living in caves and "huntin', fishin', 'n' shootin'" for a living, no-one complained about it then (who needed feeding).

Bit out-dated now, but if properly managed, shouldn't really be a problem.

SoD

[David Duff]

Oh blimey! Don't you come on here, SoD, with all that sub-Freudian psychobabble. The answer for this man's cruelty and ego is simple - he's got a titchy willy - end of!

[Lawrence Duff]

I went on a beat once, it was an extremely distressing experience. I just ain't got that gene.

And watching the foam flecked, saucer eyed, gleeful faces of those with the gene as they blasted small defenceless critters into shards of meat was a bit of a shocker. Who are these aliens amongst us, I thought?

In the end, whatever you are, so long as you do no harm, you can do what you like.

So lets parse this list of predispositions, for example: -

Heterosexual - No problem
Homosexual - No problem
Paedophile - Chemical castration or obligatory separation from children
Hunter - A quota of only those animals for which destruction is necessary for wildlife management

Etc.

SoD

[jimmy glesga]

Chemical castration seems rather humane. Piano wire with a pillow stuffed in their mouth would be justice.

[Cuffleyburgers]

OK, I am as saddened by the demise of Cecil as the next man.

BUT - however much it may disgust some of us, the business of having high paying yankees and kings of Spain and others going to Zimbabwe (Rhodesia in happier days) and forking out vast sums to shoot legitimately a certain number of trophy animals also happens to be the most effective way to make sure that the populations of these animals are protected from:
1) having their habitat built over or ploughed up for farmland
2) being butchered by poachers (especially the case for rhino, and elephant)

It puts large amounts of cash into the pockets of people who would otherwise survive on bushmeat and who will in time likely become middleclass bleeding heart enviro-loonies (it is an observed phenomenon that environmentalism is a rich peoples luxury) but in the meanwhile it is in purely pragmatic terms a good solution, and better than all the alternatives.

I could never do it but that would not stop me shooting wild boar or other creatures around here.

While we are there, we should note that most policies which are genuinely beneficial to the environment are disliked by greenies, and most policies liked by greenies are disastrous for the environment. Discuss (but read Booker in last sunday's Barclay Brothers' Beano first).

[Cuffleyburgers]

And by the way, I agree that this Palmer individual seems to be a loathsome twat, with Putin's complaint.

[Whitewall]

Now SoD, I pride myself on my fishing prowess. The hunting..not so much. I not only enjoy fishing, but I look quite striking when I do it. So I'm told.

[David Duff]

Good point, Cuffers.

Who told you, Whiters, not that bloke in the shaving mirror again! Also, do you strip off to the waist like Vlad does when he goes fishing?

[Richard]

If you are going to eat the bird or beast that is one thing. If you are doing it entirely for pleasure that is something completely different. Some of my Canadian cousins shoot the occasional deer. However said deer ends up in the freezer and feeds the family for quite a long time. I don't have a problem with that.

[David Duff]

Never mind all that old 'blx', Richard, where's my bloody vodka? Alexey said he's going to get his old mates from the 'Army Re-education Corps' to sort you out if it isn't delivered in double quick time and he's warned me to check the seals on the bottle!

[Cuffleyburgers]

Richard - with all due respect that's bollocks. SHow me the hunter who with heavy heart shoots his wild boar because Sainburys' is fresh out of stock? Nonsense he does it because he enjoys it. The well it's ok because I eat it frankly is a rather hypocritical auto-justification deployed when conversing with the bleeding-hearted. We don't in fact need to eat meat at all, we do it because we like it. In order for us to do it animals have to die. In the vast majority of cases they have rather nasty brutish and short lives, ending in a factory. The lucky ones get shot by hunters. Some get shot and not eaten. Shit happens. Some unfortunate chicken has a shit life, and an inglorious death and then gets chucked away because he's past his sell by date.

Spare me the sentimental boilerplate!

Re hunting lion, elephant or African big game in general - personally I would not be attracted by it as I admire the splendour of the beasts in their natural setting but within the limits alluded to in my previous post it should be allowed.

Rather like "bottom business", rap music and deep fried mars bars - personally not for me, but there we are, there's no accounting for taste.

[Richard]

Er...Cuffley, you seem to be completely contradicting yourself here. A factory produced animal which as you say lives "a short and brutish life" being killed by a slaughterman - possibly slowly by a halal slaughterman gives you no problems at all, yet someone who dispatches a wild deer which has lived naturally with a clean shot and then eats it causes you to go into an angst filled hissy-fit? I should add that a lot of times, the deer, which lacks natural predators needs culling because due to a lack of natural predators the land it lives on no longer has the capacity to sustain it.

With all due respect, it's you who's talking bollocks. If you don't like the process by which meat is put on our table, then don't eat it, it's as simple as that and I will certainly respect you for the stance you are making, particularly if you are prepared to protest at the inhumane way in which animals that are farmed for meat are treated. Hunting for food is actually far more humane by comparison.

If not, by all means enjoy your chicken, beefsteak or whatever but don't blame the likes of me for having a quiet snigger when you come out with platitudes like those you have just expressed.

[Cuffleyburgers]

Richard you seem to have totally misunderstood what I said. Go away and read it properly.

[Cuffleyburgers]

My point being that I eat meat and I enjoy it, I would hunt for pleasure but African big game would not be my thing.

I suspect that an awful lot of the twattersphere twitstormers are also meat eaters, and therefore appalling hyprocrites.

I furthermore suspect that very few people in Zimbabwe had heard of "their favourite lion" Cecil before his unfortunate demise

[Richard]

You do not make yourself clear Cuffley, and for the life of me, I cannot see how I can be condemned of
"sentimental boilerplate" by saying that it's ok to kill a deer if the intention is to eat it. Sure, people enjoy hunting, but provided that the right animal is shot and a clean kill is made, then I'm afraid that the motivation doesn't much concern me. I will also admit that I have been a hunter albeit on a very small scale. I have stalked pigeon and rabbit with both shotgun and air rifle in order to get close enough to ensure a clean kill. The results have always tasted pretty good as well.

With regard to the demise of Cecil the lion, I agree with everything you say. I would add that shooting the beast with a crossbow bolt was unbelievably cruel, particularly in this day and age when lage calibre rifles are available. A crossbow bolt or arrow kills by blood loss and not kinetic shock, and if what I have read is true, that poor bloody animal suffered in agony for a long time before it was finally dispatched. Sometimes even lions have to be managed though. When an elderly male is displaced as leader of the pride he is sometimes unable to hunt properly due to age and quite possibly due to injury. Some of these turn maneater and have to be taken out. If that has to be done though, I would argue that the deed should be carried out an authorised person who has the necessary fieldcraft and marksmanship skills to do so. If it was me, I would be hugely saddened by what I had had to do...

Unlike that bloodythirsty wanker Walther Palmer.

[Richard]

Vodka seals are still intact David. I will start making serious arrangements this week-end!

[Andra]

Thank the gods for that, Richard.
Do your duty!

[jimmy glesga]

Maybe F,n Wallie should join IS. He would be in good company just indulging in their hobby.

[Andra]

http://eveningharold.com/2015/07/29/online-campaign-raises-100000-to-send-lions-to-hunt-us-dentist/

[David Duff]

Thanks, Andra, that is hilarious!

[Cuffleyburgers]

Richard - that's the point - the evil thing is not that he killed the lion with no intention of eating it, but that he did so in a way that resulted in appalling agony for the beast.

[JK]

"What Lion?" Zimbabweans ask, amid global Cecil circus, ""Are you saying that all this noise is about a dead lion? Lions are killed all the time in this country," said Tryphina Kaseke, a used-clothes hawker on the streets of Harare. "What is so special about this one?"

""Why are the Americans [and D&N Readers] more concerned than us?" said Joseph Mabuwa, a 33-year-old father-of-two cleaning his car in the center of the capital. "We never hear them speak out when villagers are killed by lions and elephants in Hwange."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/30/us-zimbabwe-wildlife-lion-idUSKCN0Q41UW20150730

[JK]

Meanwhile in Minnesota USA:

http://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/milwaukee-police-go-big-game-hunting-after-fresh-lion-sightings-491565123870