Walt Palmer, a dentist from Minnesota, and his bow and arrow are about to have an interesting week

Trophy hunting is good for Africans and the health of the animal populations:

Lions have been coming out of the surrounding bush, prowling around homes and a small health clinic, to snatch goats and donkeys from the heart of this village on the edge of one of Africa’s great inland deltas. Elephants, too, are becoming frequent, unwelcome visitors, gobbling up the beans, maize and watermelons that took farmers months to grow.

Since Botswana banned trophy hunting two years ago, remote communities like Sankuyo have been at the mercy of growing numbers of wild animals that are hurting livelihoods and driving terrified villagers into their homes at dusk.

The hunting ban has also meant a precipitous drop in income. Over the years, villagers had used money from trophy hunters, mostly Americans, to install toilets and water pipes, build houses for the poorest, and give scholarships to the young and pensions to the old.

Calls to curb trophy hunting across Africa have risen since a lion in Zimbabwe, named Cecil by researchers tracking it, was killed in July by an American dentist. Several airlines have stopped transporting trophies from hunts, and lawmakers in New Jersey have introduced legislation that would further restrict their import into the United States.

But in Sankuyo and other rural communities living near the wild animals, many are calling for a return to hunting. African governments have also condemned, some with increasing anger, Western moves to ban trophy hunting.

“Before, when there was hunting, we wanted to protect those animals because we knew we earned something out of them,” said Jimmy Baitsholedi Ntema, a villager in his 60s. “Now we don’t benefit at all from the animals. The elephants and buffaloes leave after destroying our plowing fields during the day. Then, at night, the lions come into our kraals.”

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/09/13/world/a-hunting-ban-saps-a-villages-livelihood.html?_r=0

 

What do you all think of this story/editorial? My god, compare your little traffic issue to an international incident. Yeah. Right. I haven't read the 700+ comments to this story, but I bet there are some real doozies in there.

http://www.startribune.com/the-walt...-s-like-to-be-a-one-of-the-accused/327783571/

 

Jesus Christ. I think she was assigned to write that by the LA Times' former pop music editor.

 

I stubbed my toe on the couch last night. Now I know what Kunta Kinte felt like.

 

Well knock me over with a feather. That's some good educatin' that woman got.

 

Replace "trophy hunting" with "abortion" in that article and see what happens.

 

What would her comparison be in that instance? I cut my toenails last night, so I can relate to those who have had an abortion?

 

Everything else can stay the same.

 

Probably something along the lines of, "abortion is legal, so quit demonizing those who support it."

 

Jesus, you all are begging for o_t to show up here in a few minutes!

And then OOP...

And then... fuck it, release the hounds!

 

At your service, Vombatus.

She gave a reasoned, measured take on the story. And some people just can't accept that.

 

She didn't even say what "minor traffic" accusation it was. Did she park in the mayor's parking spot? Was the inspection sticker slightly peeling? Did she drink too many cocktails and blow a .26?