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I read some interesting articles about Cecil/Lions in South Africa. While, in the west, there is a lot of support for Lions as "Majestic Creatures" - there are

I read some interesting articles about Cecil/Lions in South Africa. While, in the west, there is a lot of support for Lions as "Majestic Creatures" - there are a lot of people, particularly those who live in the same habitat as the Lions, that are not such big fans, and are more than happy to see them wiped out to the point where they only exist on Wildlife Reserves/zoos. There are also lots of scenarios where we try and protect, at incredible costs to human welfare, protected species like the spotted owl, or gopherus agassizii, the California/Nevada tortoise that's endangered by Solar Panels in the Nevada Desert. While all of us (for any reasonable definition of all of us) are happy to see small pox, guinea worm, malaria, ebola, and now zika, wiped out in the name of advancing humanity, it's pretty clear there is a greater divide when it comes to lions, owls, and tortoises. And, before you say, "Well, the owl/tortoise only have financial impact" remember that $$$ can be easily translated into lives simply by dialing up safety standards/inspections/health care/etc... With incredible returns in the third world, and, even some low hanging fruit in the first world as well.

RcouF1uZ4gsC 11y ago
Along the same lines, advanced human civilizations have pretty much always wiped out large predators in the vicinity of their dwellings. If you look at where large predators such as lions and tigers are, they are in under developed areas where people in the past did not have the ability to eradicate them. Now that they are able to, the people are often lectured by outsiders who in no way face risks from these animals that they should not do what is best for themselves, but sacrifice their livelihoods and perhaps their lives for some greater environmental good. Many times the modern conservation movement smacks of leftover colonialism where white people in safe areas purged from large predators attempt to keep brown people from bettering their lives by doing the same things that the white people's ancestors did- eliminate threats to themselves and their livestock from wild large predators.

RcouF1uZ4gsC 11y ago

Along the same lines, advanced human civilizations have pretty much always wiped out large predators in the vicinity of their dwellings. If you look at where large predators such as lions and tigers are, they are in under developed areas where people in the past did not have the ability to eradicate them. Now that they are able to, the people are often lectured by outsiders who in no way face risks from these animals that they should not do what is best for themselves, but sacrifice their livelihoods and perhaps their lives for some greater environmental good. Many times the modern conservation movement smacks of leftover colonialism where white people in safe areas purged from large predators attempt to keep brown people from bettering their lives by doing the same things that the white people's ancestors did- eliminate threats to themselves and their livestock from wild large predators.