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A tale of this week's BRAVE, WHITE, FEARLESS American hunter…

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Kiwithrottlejockey
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« on: July 31, 2015, 02:45:47 pm »


Mark Morford

A lion is not a chicken:
Essential distinctions for the perplexed


By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist | 5:06PM PDT - Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Note: Not the same as killing a chicken.
Note: Not the same as killing a chicken.

ONE OF my favorite snarling right-wing attacks, whenever I criticize Christianity as a whole or the Catholic church specifically — which is frequently, on both counts, for all manner of homophobia, sexual dread, constriction of human spirit, and so on — goes something like this:

“I'd like to see Morford try his liberal, anti-religion shtick in (Angry Hardline Islamic Country) and see how long he survives! Why does SFGate let him get away with this? He'd never say the same thing about Allah!”

It's as amusing as it is clumsy and unsophisticated, the lopsided belief that everything is the same everywhere, that context does not matter, that it makes sense to draw ham-fisted equivalencies where none exist, mostly because it's easier to lash out in a rage than it is to unpack moral or intellectual complexities.

(My response to the haters: Christianity is the dominant religion here, where I live, directly impacting my country and world, for millennia. Islam has no bearing on American life, law, behavior, moral code. I respond to and work within the context and freedoms as they unfold here. False equivalencies are for simpletons and Fox News).

Which brings us to the latest Internet Outrage Du Jour, AKA Cecil the Lion (or rather, #CeciltheLion, which is the new #RachelDolezal), the handsome, suddenly very famous 13-year-old Zimbabwean beast who was recently shot to death, perhaps illegally, by an American dentist and pseudo-macho bow hunter named Walter Palmer, a suburban white guy — and apparent fugitive of justice! — from Minnesota who supposedly paid 50K to kill a beloved, protected animal (and tourist attraction) for no real reason except hollow thrill, for trophy and ego and, well, that's about it. (Headline winner: “Pussy kills cat” — thanks Dave Pell!)

And oh, the outrage! The instantly furious Internet mob, seeking Palmer's head on a stick! And Palmer himself, desperately claiming he had no idea that lion was famous, claiming he was misled by his guides and that his hunt was fully legal — although officials, at present, seem to disagree. The truth is out there. Or is it?

But wait! Amidst the shock and disgust, is there also (dare we say it) rampant hypocrisy? Must the Internet hordes at least tacitly acknowledge the absurdity of defending a single dead lion, however beautiful and beloved, in faraway Africa, surrounded as we are by massive slaughterhouses, fast-food addictions, In n' Out Burgers galore? Many seem to think so. We cannot deny it: We're a nation that slaughters animals on a massive and terrible scale, every single day. Millions of chickens, hogs, rabbits and ducks and cows, most living in truly horrific conditions, killed via industrial practices too sickening for the law to allow anyone to see. It's gruesome.

What's more, we seem happy enough to turn a blind eye to the nearly three million (not a typo) unwanted dogs and cats put down every year in America, the result of idiotic breeding, irresponsible/incapable pet ownership, general heartlessness. Where's the outrage over that? Verily, when it comes to our treatment of the animal kingdom overall, doesn't hypocrisy abound? It most certainly does.

To a point.

Nevertheless, a vital distinction must be made. The moral/spiritual compass must not be discarded completely, lest everything be lumped together, lest we become like screeching Bible literalists, like one-size-fits-all dogmatists, like militant vegans who see no difference in swatting a mosquito versus slaughtering a whale. Here's the thing: The killing of animals for food is far different than hunting down a majestic, solitary, almost-but-not-quite-endangered wild animal for no other reason than to give yourself relative value in the world (i.e.; to make you feel like a “man”, or whatever).


Can you shoot one of these with a very expensive bow and arrow, then pose with it for a “hero” shot, feeling somehow more manly, alive, proving your worth? What a strange, mis-aligned heart you must have.
Can you shoot one of these with a very expensive bow and arrow, then pose with it for a “hero” shot, feeling somehow more manly,
alive, proving your worth? What a strange, mis-aligned heart you must have.


Put another way: Killing animals for food makes fundamental sense to us; hunting for necessity has been around as long as we've been upright. Killing for trophy/sport? To prove your thuggish dominion over the animal kingdom, because no one listens to you back home and your life is terrifically boring and you've got something to prove? That's new. That has minimal spiritual, intellectual, or moral validation. It's just cruel.

This is the message: Context matters. You must have a mind — and a heart — nimble enough to make distinctions, lest nothing be of any deeper value and everything is shoved into a grand pile of Who Gives a Damn or OMG Everything Is Totally Precious We Should Only Eat Air. What's true for Cecil is also true of other species, too.

Take sharks. Few dispute the inherent cruelty and waste in capturing these massive, ancient hunters, hacking off their fins for a bland soup and throwing the rest away, despite how we ruthlessly harvest the oceans for thousands of other species. What's different?

Same can be said for whales, long slaughtered for nothing more than false sense of “tradition” or for specialty foods no one really needs anymore. Also true for elephants, slaughtered for their ivory. Is there a distinction?

It's even true for trees. Greedy poachers have taken chainsaws to many an ancient redwood, those massive, awe-inspiring behemoths, many of which have been around since Jesus was knee-high to a pagan goddess, hacking them to death for nothing more than a single “pretty” burl to sell. Why does that feel so wrong? When we harvest millions of other trees per year for lumber?

The difference, of course, is intention, connection, soul. The difference is a certain level of inviolable sacredness, something primal and ancient, a line that we can't quite pinpoint exactly (because it touches upon divine ground) but which must try, however awkwardly, to keep intact.

Our collective moral compass is already confused and mis-shapen enough, isn't it? We don't need to destroy everything for bullshit profit, trophy, app or ego, do we?

I'm going to do something unusual here: I'm going plagiarize myself, and repost a small portion of a column I wrote fully 13 years ago (!), all about Japan's then-shameful plan to resurrect its whale hunt, to much international derision. Sad to say, this bit still holds true today. (Feel free to swap in “lion” for the whales, Walt Palmer for Japan, and shift the context, however slightly, accordingly).

Here is my hypothesis: Maybe we are so horrified at a major developed nation's desire to resume the slaughter of this most amazing of mysterious sea creatures because we sense some sort of fragile progress has been made, and is now in jeopardy.

Maybe most of us subconsciously consider it a step forward in the intellectual and spiritual advancement of our species that just because we can kill these powerful and spiritually loaded creatures without wiping them out entirely, just because there might be enough of them to chop up a few hundred for a snack, doesn't mean we actually should, doesn't mean we have some sort of anthropological imperative to kill every creature on the planet simply because they might [look good on our wall] go well with a nice Pinot Gris or sake martini.

Perhaps we consider it a subtle but profound step up the evolutionary ladder to slowly but surely remove long-revered and highly sacred animals from the largely gluttonous and omnivorous human diet [or our need for ignoble trophy].

And hence maybe a return to munching of whale meat seems like a devolution, a harsh return to a way of thinking about the planet that basically lumps everything into one of two categories: things we can own/exploit/kill/eat/bomb/deep-fry, and things with which we can calmly and even beautifully [and respectfully] coexist.


And here we land on it: Hunting Cecil for sport, for trophy, for the bogus satisfaction of your misaligned ego does everything to promote the former, and absolutely nothing to advance the latter. Simple enough, really.


Email: Mark Morford

Mark Morford on Twitter and Facebook.

http://blog.sfgate.com/morford/2015/07/28/a-lion-is-not-a-chicken-essential-distinctions-for-the-perplexed
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« Reply #1 on: August 01, 2015, 06:35:07 pm »


from The Washington Post....

Cecil the lion’s killer may have trouble
avoiding extradition, experts say


By DARRYL FEARS and ELAHE IZADI | 7:16PM EDT - Friday, July 31, 2015

Minnesota dentist Walter James Palmer is accused of killing Zimbabwe’s Cecil the lion.
Minnesota dentist Walter James Palmer is accused of killing Zimbabwe’s Cecil the lion.

WALTER PALMER, the wealthy big-game hunter who killed a famous lion, could be headed back to Africa — if the Zimbabwe government has its way.

On Friday, officials in Zimbabwe said they intended to press ahead with a request to extradite Palmer for killing a lion known as Cecil just outside a sanctuary where the animal was protected. Later, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that it had finally contacted Palmer, a dentist who had shuttered his practice in Minnesota a few days ago and disappeared.

The Fish and Wildlife agency’s law enforcement office said that a representative for Palmer “voluntarily reached out to the service” Thursday afternoon and that its “investigation is ongoing.”

The investigation could lead to charges under U.S. law. If Palmer is charged with similar offenses by Zimbabwe, that would clear the way for him to be extradited to that country under a treaty Zimbabwe entered into with the United States in July 1997. It calls for persons of interest to be extradited between the two countries in cases that include a conspiracy or attempt to commit a crime, aiding and abetting a crime, or being an accessory.

The extradition process cannot begin until Zimbabwe officially issues a charge and requests Palmer’s return. Oppah Muchinguri, the nation’s minister of the environment and climate, vowed to press charges in a Friday news conference in the capital, Harare.

“I have already consulted with the authorities within the police force who are responsible for arresting the criminal. We have certain processes we have to follow,” Muchinguri said, according to the Associated Press. “…the processes have already started.”

Legal experts said Palmer wouldn’t have a lot of options to fight a return to Zimbabwe to face trial. “Once Zimbabwe provides a charge, it depends on how fast the U.S. moves,” said Stephen Vladeck, an American University law professor who specializes in international affairs.

“Anyone subject to extradition has the right to challenge it, but the grounds upon which he can successfully oppose extradition is fairly narrow,” Vladeck said. “He would have to argue that it violates the treaty or somehow that it violates his rights.”

Palmer’s lawyers could cite the poor condition of Zimbabwe’s prisons, a humanitarian concern, as a reason to deny extradition. The prisons were recently described as a “hellhole” in a report by the Zimbabwe Independent, a daily business newspaper, according to its Web site.

“I think it could factor into the State Department’s analysis,” said Jens David Ohlin, an expert in international and criminal law who teaches at Cornell University. U.S. officials “could decide the prison conditions are too harsh and we don’t want our citizens to spend time in jail there.”

The extradition process could take years to play out. If a federal court approves Zimbabwe’s request to extradite him, Palmer could appeal the decision, experts said. If he were to lose on appeal, the State Department would make the final decision.

Ohlin said the State Department would be hard-pressed to turn down a formal extradition request from Zimbabwe. If it did, in a worst-case scenario Zimbabwe could become a sanctuary for criminals who flee crimes committed in the United States.

“If the U.S. doesn’t play ball in this case,” Ohlin said, “in the future if the U.S. wants someone extradited, Zimbabwe can say, ‘We’re not going to help you out’.”




Palmer has been harshly criticized in the United States, even by fellow hunters. Safari Club International, which works with foreign governments to arrange legal big-game hunts, suspended his membership.

Among conservation groups, anger has been even more heated. The Humane Society of the United States called for an end to what it called “pay-to-slay” hunts such as Palmer’s.

Zimbabweans believe the July 1st hunt, in which Cecil was lured out of the Hwange National Park sanctuary with fresh meat and shot by Palmer with a bow and arrow, was illegal. Cecil limped, wounded, and was pursued for nearly two days before finally being killed. Then, the lion was beheaded.

Amid the public uproar after he was identified as the killer early this week, Palmer, who paid about $50,000 for the hunt, issued a statement saying that he regretted slaying “a known, local favorite” and that local guides had misled him.

When authorities became aware of the slaying, they wanted to detain Palmer along with two guides, professional hunter Theo Bronkhorst and Honest Trymore Ndlovu, the owner of the land where the poaching took place. They were released on $1,000 bail, the Associated Press reported.

“Unfortunately, it was too late to apprehend the foreign poacher as he had already absconded to his country of origin,” Muchinguri said. “We are appealing to the responsible authorities for his extradition to Zimbabwe so that he [can] be made accountable.”


Darryl Fears has worked at The Washington Post for more than a decade, mostly as a reporter on the National staff. He currently covers the environment, focusing on the Chesapeake Bay and issues affecting wildlife.

Elahe Izadi is a general assignment national reporter for The Washington Post.

__________________________________________________________________________

Read more on this topic:

 • U.S. officials make contact with a representative for Cecil the lion’s killer

 • As anger escalates, Zimbabwean men appear in court

 • Cecil the lion and mankind’s long history of revering and destroying his species

 • As the world mourned Cecil, 5 of Kenya’s endangered elephants were slain

 • Rich Americans kill hundreds of lions every year, and it’s all legal

 • Did Walter Palmer give Cecil the lion a ‘fair chase’?

 • What wildlife smuggling has in common with drugs, guns and the human sex trade

 • Overwhelmed U.S. port inspectors can’t keep up with illegal wildlife trade

 • U.S. wildlife police nab smugglers but fear congressional budget cuts


http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/cecil-the-lions-killer-may-have-trouble-avoiding-extradition-experts-say/2015/07/31/6100c7cc-37be-11e5-9739-170df8af8eb9_story.html
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« Reply #2 on: August 01, 2015, 06:46:19 pm »

...mmm...a real low life....but still nowhere near as bad as the kiwi baby murderers Roll Eyes
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« Reply #3 on: August 04, 2015, 12:09:23 pm »


from The Washington Post....

While other trophy hunters hide, Idaho's
‘Italian Huntress’ is flaunting her kills


By PETER HOLLEY | 11:39AM EDT - Monday, August 03, 2015



OVER the past week, the hunter has truly become the hunted, with safari veterans scrubbing their social media accounts to avoid the fearsome wrath of the animal-loving Internet.

But Sabrina Corgatelli isn't the type to avoid poking bears. If her Facebook and Instagram pages are any indication, she's more likely to shoot one between the eyes with her beloved Winchester rifle.

While wealthy sportsmen are going underground, the proud Idaho huntress is standing her ground against taunting critics and cheerfully posting her latest big-game kills on social media, where she racks up thousands of splenetic comments that include death threats and extreme misogyny.

In response to critics several weeks ago, well before Cecil the lion’s death inflamed conservationists worldwide, Corgatelli delivered a message on Instagram:

To all the haters, stay tuned, you're gonna have so much more to be pissed about.

She wasn’t lying.

Since she embarked on her latest hunting trip to South Africa's Kruger National Park about a week ago, Corgatelli — an Idaho State University accountant who refers to herself as “the Italian Huntress” — has killed a giraffe, an impala, a kudu, a warthog and a wildebeest, according to photos posted on her Instagram account.

“I got a amazing old Giraffe,” she wrote on Facebook on July 25th. “Such a amazing animal!! I couldn't be any happier!! My emotion after getting him was a feeling I will never forget!!!”






In a matter of days, she has risen from relative anonymity to join Minnesota dentist Walter Palmer and Pennsylvania doctor Jan Seski in an exclusive club of hunted hunters.

“I hope you shoot your ovaries off in a misfire so you can never reproduce,” one commenter wrote under a photo of Corgatelli standing behind a freshly slaughtered giraffe.

On Monday, Corgatelli appeared with her companion, Aaron Neilson, on NBC’s “Today” show to defend the giraffe hunt by referring to the species as a “very dangerous animals” that could “hurt you seriously very quickly.”

“To me it's not just killing an animal, it's the hunt,” she told Carson Daly. “There's a lot of personal things in my life that have happened recently that have added to that. I won't get into that or disclose those feelings. Everybody just thinks we're cold-hearted killers, and it's not that. There is a connection with the animal, and just because we hunt them doesn't mean we don't have a respect for them.”

Noting that commenters have posted information about her job and home address, Daly asked Corgatelli if she’s worried about retribution.

“Everything I've done here is legal, so how can you fault somebody because of their hobbies?” Corgatelli said. “How can an employer chastise you for something you do on your personal time that's legally done?”

The vitriol is nothing new: In June, Corgatelli posted a Facebook screengrab on her Instagram account, noting that “the random stuff that the anti hunters share from my FB makes me laugh!!!”




On Saturday, Corgatelli appeared to defend her actions by posted two lines from the Bible.



Peter Holley is a general assignment reporter at The Washington Post.

__________________________________________________________________________

Read more on this topic:

 • Second American doctor accused of illegally killing a lion in Zimbabwe

 • Why female big-game hunters become the hunted online, in a way men don’t

 • Cecil the lion’s killer may have trouble avoiding extradition, experts say

 • Forget what you heard, folks, Jericho, friend of Cecil the lion, is alive

 • ‘I'm a huge target for them’: Critics take aim at hunting show star Eva Shockey

 • Texas man shoots at armadillo, but the varmint got him back

 • Ricky Gervais fires back after getting slaughtered over hunting remarks


http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/08/03/while-other-trophy-hunters-hide-idahos-italian-huntress-is-flaunting-her-kills
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« Reply #4 on: August 04, 2015, 06:15:34 pm »

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3180304/Karma-b-h-Woman-sexually-harassed-dentist-killed-Cecil-lion-speaks-vilified-world.html

Looks like Cecil was not the only pussy Walter was chasing !
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« Reply #5 on: August 05, 2015, 11:58:32 am »


from the Los Angeles Times....

Big game hunters should spare animals and go after poachers

By DAVID HORSEY | 5:00AM PDT - Tuesday, August 04, 2015



IF American big game hunters are desperate for a boost to their testosterone-driven egos, they should stop shooting lions and elephants and rhinos and start stalking a species that the world has in abundance: venal human beings.

Imagine the thrill they could get from tramping through the jungle and over the Serengeti to hunt down the poachers who have killed off all but a few of the black rhinoceroses and are fast closing in on the last African elephant. Of course, the poachers are well-armed too, but that would make it a fairer fight than the hunters usually allow the four-footed animals that get drawn into their sites by well-paid trackers.

As anyone knows who hasn’t been in a coma for the last week, a Minnesota dentist named Walter James Palmer has been feeling the wrath of a vast host of shunners and shamers on the Internet after it was reported that he killed a lion that his guides illegally lured out of a national park in Zimbabwe. The lion had a name — Cecil — and was the key animal in an ongoing scientific study. Now, the dentist is being sought for extradition by Zimbabwean authorities. He has had to shut down his dental practice and has gone into hiding, but Palmer is getting little sympathy, other than from Rush Limbaugh and other right wingers who are portraying him as a victim of oppressive political correctness.

Joining Palmer in public scrutiny this week is a Pennsylvania oncologist, Jan Casimir Seski, who stands accused of illegally killing a lion in Zimbabwe last April. Photos have surfaced of Seski standing next to various other animals he has killed for sport, including at least six elephants, a hippo and an undoubtedly ferocious ostrich. Seski lives on an expanse of rural acreage dotted with “no trespassing” signs. Neighbors say they have observed him wandering his land wearing a low-slung holstered gun in the manner of an Old West gunfighter. This tough guy is now hiding from reporters.

One more big game hunter who has gotten negative attention is Texan Corey Knowlton, who paid $350,000 at an auction for a license to shoot a black rhinoceros in Namibia. Knowlton received death threats before the hunt in May when he killed an older rhino that Namibian officials say needed to be culled before he harmed younger members of his species. The Namibian government allows the killing of five aging rhinos a year as a means of funding anti-poaching efforts and conservation programs.

“I think people have a problem just with the fact that I like to hunt,” Knowlton said after taking down the rhino. “I want to see the black rhino as abundant as it can be. I believe in the survival of the species.”

That is certainly a worthy sentiment, and defenders of big game hunters point to the fact that many high-dollar hunts do fund programs to protect the animals that remain. The problem is that the money raised is just a drop in the bucket compared with what may be needed to fight the poachers and the traders who market rhino horns and elephant tusks to Asia. According to the World Wildlife Federation, the number of black rhinos in Africa dropped by 96% between 1970 and 1992, and the decline has continued in subsequent years. At the rate that African elephants are being illegally slaughtered, they will nearly all be gone within a decade. Lions are not doomed yet, but their numbers are dwindling.

That is why so many people react so negatively to reports of rich Americans going on expensive safaris in Africa to kill these animals for the fun of it. Yes, hunters can justify it to themselves by saying some of their money may go into a conservation fund, but the symbolism is terrible.

That is why, with tongue only half way in cheek, I suggest their shooting skills might be better exercised in the hunt for the creeps who have decimated the herds of these magnificent and irreplaceable animals merely to feed a lucrative market driven by human stupidity and greed.


http://www.latimes.com/opinion/topoftheticket/la-na-tt-hunters-should-go-after-poachers-20150803-story.html
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« Reply #6 on: August 05, 2015, 08:28:22 pm »

there needs to be a law against it...then enforced Wink
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« Reply #7 on: August 07, 2015, 11:26:24 pm »


TROPHY_ROOM
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« Reply #8 on: August 08, 2015, 03:29:13 am »

Dog attack numbers huge yet nothing changes

5:30 AM Wednesday Aug 5, 201556 comments


A report to the annual meeting of plastic surgeons revealed 99,003 dog victims sought treatment at public hospital emergency departments in the decade to June 30, 2014. Photo / File

Today, Government ministers will put on their serious faces and announce yet another crackdown on family violence. Prime Minister John Key signalled the move last week, thundering that "family violence in New Zealand is far too high and the Government is committed to addressing the long-standing issues".

Justice Minister Amy Adams hinted at tougher penalties.

Sadly, this gung-ho mood doesn't follow through when it comes to protecting New Zealanders from savaging by dogs.

On Sunday, a report to the annual meeting of plastic surgeons revealed 99,003 dog victims sought treatment at public hospital emergency departments in the decade to June 30, 2014. Of these, 5842 cases - about two a day - required hospitalisation and surgery, half requiring general anaesthesia. More than a third of victims were children, mostly with facial injuries.


Report authors Jonny Mair and Zach Moaveni say the incident rate is rising steadily, from 10.5 per 100,000 population in 2004 to 14.3 per 100,000 in 2014. Yet the Government just shrugs its shoulders. Mr Key told TV One he wasn't convinced more laws were the best way to tackle aggressive dog breeds.

He trotted out the failed old slogans about tighter regulations only hurting responsible, registered dog owners, and that "70 per cent of dog bites occur in the family home, or with friends". He pointed the finger at irresponsible dog owners who disobey existing laws.

Imagine the furore if Mr Key were to substitute "wife-bashing" or "child molestation" for "dog bite" and similarly dismiss the need for urgent action.

Accident Compensation Commission claims have long revealed a steady rise in claims, reaching 12,406 in 2013. Dog apologists have hidden behind the ACC's definition of dog bite, which includes injuries caused by being "kicked, butted or bitten by a live dog", claiming this exaggerated the true extent of the problem. Trip over a sleeping dog and make a claim, they mock.

The new research proves otherwise. It's based on hospital records and paints a stark picture. About 27 dog attack victims report to emergency departments every day. Two are so seriously injured they have to be admitted for surgery. More than a third are children, the highest

at-risk group being kids aged 9 or under. Maori and Pacific Island children are 2.4 times more likely to be victims.

Overwhelmingly, the dogs target children's heads, with 79 per cent of 0 to 4-year-olds and 63 per cent of 5 to 9-year-olds suffering head or neck wounds.

As Mr Key noted, 69.8 per cent of attacks occurred at a private residence or property. But so what? Swimming pool drownings also occurred mainly at private residences, but that didn't prevent nanny state introducing stringent fencing controls to protect kids from the shortcomings of parents or other adults.

If stronger laws are not the answer, then what is the Government's solution to stemming the flow of dog attacks?

In 2013, the ACC paid out $3.3 million in compensation. But that doesn't cover the cost to the public health budget, or the ongoing cost of the disfiguring injuries the victims have to live with.

A good first start would be giving humans the same sort of protection the law gives to poultry or sheep. At present, a farmer can shoot a dog caught running among his chooks or stock without repercussions. But in suburbia, a dog "worrying" kids or passing posties has to be held by the local authority for seven days before its fate is decided.

Of the 12,406 dog attacks recorded by the ACC for 2013, just 525 prosecutions followed, along with 61 destruction orders. That was well down on the 83 death sentences for 2012, despite dog attacks being up nearly 500.

And these are just attacks that get reported. The Animal Control Institute says the true figure could be closer to 20,000, with many families covering up attacks for fear their dog will be put down.

If only it was that easy.

Like family violence, dog attacks are a national scandal. Successive governments have rightly endeavoured to abate the former. But with dogs, we wait in vain for a prime minister to similarly pledge that "dog violence is far too high and the Government is committed to addressing the long-standing issues".

- NZ Herald

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« Reply #9 on: September 04, 2016, 10:27:20 pm »


from The Washington Post....

The lions of Nairobi National Park are escaping to the suburbs

By KEVIN SIEFF | 5:44PM EDT - Saturday, September 03, 2016

A young lion sits with Nairobi's skyline in the background at Nairobi National Park in 2015. — Photograph: Tony Karumba/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images.
A young lion sits with Nairobi's skyline in the background at Nairobi National Park in 2015.
 — Photograph: Tony Karumba/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images.


NAIROBI — The last time the lions charged through Simon Saigilu's village, he was ready. He jumped out of bed with a flashlight and a spear, emitting a high-pitched scream that was the closest thing anyone here had to an alarm.

He'd had time to practice. Every month or two, the lions appeared, after sneaking through the fence that runs between the village and Nairobi National Park, at the edge of this city of 3 million. The barrier was supposed to be electrified, but it wasn't. The animals — including the park's 35 lions — were supposed to remain in the park, but they didn't.

The collision between humans and wildlife is nothing new in much of Africa, where millions of people have flocked to cities in recent decades and skylines rise in places that were once savanna or forest. But Nairobi has come to represent the extreme difficulty inherent in trying to preserve wildlife while an urban population booms. The number of residents on the outskirts of the reserve has grown more than tenfold since it was established in 1946 as the first national park in East Africa.

Saigilu's hamlet, called Maasai Village after the tribe that lives there, provides a glimpse into the clash between the human and animal ecosystems. On one side of the smattering of huts and sheet-metal homes is the city's industrial area, a neighborhood of warehouses and factories surrounded by near-endless traffic. On the other side is a 45-square-mile stretch of undisturbed greenery, the world's only major game reserve within a capital city.

“We are caught in between,” said Jackson Prisitu, whose 96 sheep were slaughtered by a lion one night in March.

Both wildlife advocates and the Kenyan government see the park as a national treasure, a symbol of coexistence between humans and the big-game animals that have lived here for centuries. The park is also a massive tourist attraction, bringing in more than 100,000 visitors annually.

Urban development “makes this city like any other. But the park sets Nairobi apart. It plays a key role in defining the identity of the city,” said Paula Kahumbu, the director of WildlifeDirect, an international conservation group based in the Kenyan capital.

For years, the villagers' proximity to the park's wildlife was rarely a problem. Then a few things changed. At the southern edge of the park, which is unfenced for 12 miles and once bordered a vast savanna, developers started building houses and shopping centers. Suddenly, when animals moved south, they encountered people, often armed. Their domain had effectively been reduced.

That was a particular blow to the park's lions. Male lions are very territorial, and each requires a swath of land that can be as large as 100 square miles. With less land, the lions began to look elsewhere. One of the places they looked was Maasai Village, where residents had been raising livestock for more than a half-century.

Meanwhile, alongside the village, a Chinese firm had begun to build a 300-mile railway line, one of the biggest infrastructure projects in Kenya's history, that would stretch from Nairobi to the Indian Ocean. When that construction started more than a year ago, the electricity along stretches of the park's fence suddenly disappeared, making it much easier for lions to escape.

And they did, over and over.

“When they [lions] figure out how easy it is to kill livestock, they're going to keep doing it,” said Kahumbu, of WildlifeDirect.




Kenyan wildlife officials said the power goes out only for short periods due to the railway construction and vandalism. But during repeated visits by a reporter to the village, the fence always lacked electricity.

Nairobi residents were unnerved by a spate of attacks that galvanized local media attention in the spring. One lion jumped the park fence and killed Prisitu's 96 sheep in Maasai Village before running back into the reserve. Another lion, named Mohawk for his distinctive mane, escaped into nearby Kajiado town and was shot dead by Kenyan wildlife officials.

“The ease with which the lions are leaving the park is alarming,” said an editorial in Kenyan newspaper The Standard.

The media attention soon waned, but residents of Maasai Village watched as the lions kept coming. Kenyan officials distributed “lion lights” — high-beam lights that could be attached to poles and huts to scare off the animals. But they didn't seem to work.

Lions killed one of Elena Nkuluto's cows, she said, and another family's three goats. Other times, residents say, lions got through the fence but didn't attack any animals. No one in the village was hurt, but about 15 miles away, a man was killed by a lion in early August.

“In one of the fastest-growing cities in the world, it's inevitable that humans and wildlife are going to increasingly come into contact,” said Kahumbu, the conservationist.

In 2013, the Kenyan government passed a law guaranteeing compensation for those whose relatives or livestock were killed by wild animals. Sometimes that compensation arrived, but often in Maasai Village, it did not.

“A lot of us are still waiting for it,” said Nkuluto.

Some officials dispute the number of lion attacks in the village.

“It's a rare occurrence,” said Alfred Mutua, the governor of Machakos County, where Maasai Village is located. But he said he wasn't sure how often the animals had stolen into the village. Other officials suggested villagers might exaggerate their claims to gain compensation.


Jackson Prisitu walks past sheep in his village at the edge of Nairobi National Park. In March, 96 of his sheep were killed by a lion. — Photograph: Kevin Sieff/The Washington Post.
Jackson Prisitu walks past sheep in his village at the edge of Nairobi National Park. In March, 96 of his sheep
were killed by a lion. — Photograph: Kevin Sieff/The Washington Post.


Now, Kenyan officials are debating what to do to protect the humans and animals living on both sides of the fence.

Mutua is considering a program that would relocate residents of the villages along the park's periphery.

“We're seeing if we can move them to other land,” he said.

The residents of Maasai Village are outraged at that prospect.

“We've been here for so many years,” said Saigilu. “Why should we move?”

Other Kenyan officials are looking at possibly relocating at least some of the lions.

“There are efforts underway to decide whether lions should be moved to other parts of the country,” said Paul Uduto, a spokesman for Kenya Wildlife Service. “This frequency of lion attacks can't be sustained.”

The Maasai people, who are concentrated in Kenya and Tanzania, have traditionally raised livestock and had a tense relationship with lions. As part of their warrior culture, Maasai boys have long been expected to track and kill a lion with a spear to prove their manhood.

That tradition has evolved as the lion population has diminished. Some Maasai now hunt in groups, killing fewer lions. Others have given up lion-hunting altogether, with some Maasai promoting running as a new way to establish their manhood.

But in Maasai Village, young men appear intent on killing lions to defend their livelihoods.

Each of them keeps a spear ready.

“When it becomes necessary, we will use them,” Saigilu said.


Rael Ombuor in Nairobi contributed to this article.

• Kevin Sieff has been The Washington Post's Africa bureau chief since 2014. He served previously as the bureau chief in Kabul and had covered the U.S.-Mexico border.

__________________________________________________________________________

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the-lions-of-nairobi-national-park-are-escaping-to-the-suburbs/2016/09/03/a87563fa-686f-11e6-91cb-ecb5418830e9_story.html
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« Reply #10 on: September 05, 2016, 04:02:56 am »

plenty of meat on them yum plus you get a nice rug for the lounge
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Are you sick of the bullshit from the sewer stream media spewed out from the usual Ken and Barby dickless talking point look a likes.

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AND WAKE THE F_ _K UP

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