Trophy hunting, or big game hunting or whatever you want to call it is not my cup of tea, and I think very often goes over the ethical line. At least it does MY ethical line which is not the same as everybody's. But it is another one of those things where other people get to make their own ethical choices and I thank our lucky stars that freedom exists. And its also one of those things that if we do it right, we don't sit in judgement when that happens. That's the hard part for everybody too.

This lion, Cecil we'll call him, was killed unethically by even the lowest of standards IF the stories of how he was taken are true. As Eddie said in the first post, it harms the entire sport of hunting. Baseball fans are fond of saying players should play in a way that has respect for the game. The same is true of hunting. In a perfect world, we'd do that because its the right thing to do. In the current far from perfect world we also have to be aware of how our sport is perceived. IMO if we ignore that reality then a lot of what we love to do won't survive.

BKB