There’s more going on than Cecil the lion’s story

(PAULA FRENCH/AP)

There is no question that Cecil the lion’s killing is an outrage, and that it should be punished, but I wish we would spend a fraction of the attention we are paying to this story on other tragedies that go virtually unnoticed across the world, including in Cecil’s own country.

Cecil, the lion that was apparently lured out of a national park in Zimbabwe and shot by an American dentist who paid $50, 000 for the hunting experience, has been one of the world’s most watched stories since it was first reported on July 27. The hunter apparently first wounded the animal with an arrow, then tracked it for 40 hours and killed it with a rifle.

Hardly a day goes by without a new headline on Cecil’s life, the fate of his brother Jericho — whose reported killing by poachers shocked the world for a few hours, until it was found to be a false alarm — or Zimbabwe’s request for the extradition of the dentist, Dr. Walter Palmer, from the United States.

And, no doubt, it is a fascinating — and sad — story, which helps draw much-needed attention on cruelty to animals. But there is also a valid argument to be made that, ironically, we are paying much more attention to the killing of a lion in Zimbabwe that to reports of human killings by Zimbabwe’s dictator Robert Mugabe.

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