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Editorial: Trophy Hunting Is Barbaric, Disgusting

In this 2008 AP file photo, a lion's head and skin from an East African safari expedition donated to The Explorers Club sometime between 1908 and 1910 by former U.S. president, big game hunter, conservationist and adventurer Theodore Roosevelt, decorates a surface in the club's trophy room in New York. An international outcry has erupted since an American dentist killed a well-known lion named Cecil in Zimbabwe last month in an allegedly illegal hunt, and wildlife authorities on Sunday Aug. 2, 2015, reported an illegal lion kill involving another American in the same area in April. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens-File)
By D.F. Oliveria daveo@spokesman.com(509) 319-0354
In this 2008 AP file photo, a lion's head and skin from an East African safari expedition donated to The Explorers Club sometime between 1908 and 1910 by former U.S. president, big game hunter, conservationist and adventurer Theodore Roosevelt, decorates a surface in the club's trophy room in New York. An international outcry has erupted since an American dentist killed a well-known lion named Cecil in Zimbabwe last month in an allegedly illegal hunt, and wildlife authorities on Sunday Aug. 2, 2015, reported an illegal lion kill involving another American in the same area in April. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens-File)
In this 2008 AP file photo, a lion's head and skin from an East African safari expedition donated to The Explorers Club sometime between 1908 and 1910 by former U.S. president, big game hunter, conservationist and adventurer Theodore Roosevelt, decorates a surface in the club's trophy room in New York. An international outcry has erupted since an American dentist killed a well-known lion named Cecil in Zimbabwe last month in an allegedly illegal hunt, and wildlife authorities on Sunday Aug. 2, 2015, reported an illegal lion kill involving another American in the same area in April. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens-File)

The killing of Cecil the lion in Africa by an American trophy hunter has sparked a great deal of outrage and debate in recent weeks. On one side you have a handful of “hunters” and those who claim trophy hunting is vital to conserving threatened species. On the other side, you have pretty much everyone else, who can see the practice for what it is - barbaric and disgusting. The 13-year-old lion was illegally killed July 1 on the edge of a Zimbabwe reserve. Two African men, an outfitter and a landowner, have been arrested by Zimbabwe officials, who are also seeking extradition of the American hunter, Walter Palmer, a dentist from Minnesota who paid $55,000 to shoot the lion with a crossbow. Palmer has maintained he did not know anything illegal was taking place during the hunt/ Devin Rokyta , Moscow-Pullman Daily News. More here.

* This story was originally published as a post from the blog "Huckleberries Online." Read all stories from this blog