I too like millions around the world mourn the death of Cecil and loathe the cowardly acts of Dr. Walter Palmer. I too want to see justice. Punishing Dr. Palmer the individual (unfortunately) will change NOTHING. My sadness reaches far beyond Cecil, for he is one of MANY. My loathing goes beyond Walter Palmer, there are MANY TROPHY HUNTERS.  

Let us use this global anger and sadness for POSITIVE CHANGE!!!

BAN TROPHY HUNT IMPORTS TO THE UNITED STATES.

If Trophy Hunters can not hang the head of an animal on the wall or drape the skins of an animal on the living room floor as proof they are capable of bringing about death and suffering, do you really think they will spend the insane amount of money they do to kill? 

The answer is NO!!!!!

If we stop Trophy Hunt imports into the US we stop half the Trophy Hunts in Africa.

Americans account for half the Trophy Hunters out there. How shameful.

Below is a piece written by Jeff Flocken for CNN news. (it is worth a quick read)

"(CNN)The brutal killing of Cecil the Lion has rightly drawn outrage from around the world. Reports say that this local celebrity and dominant male of his pride was lured with food out of a Zimbabwe national park, only to be struck by an arrow shot from the bow of a Minnesota dentist who paid nearly $50,000 for the hunt. Tragically, Cecil's suffering did not end there. It is reported that, over the next 40 hours, Cecil was pursued and eventually shot in the head, skinned and decapitated.

Cecil's death is not an anomaly, but rather part of an all-too-common trend that is contributing to the decline of lion populations: trophy hunting. In the face of such hunting -- and other significant threats including habitat loss, and retaliatory killings -- African lion populations have declined by 60% over the past 30 years. As few as 32,000 lions remain in the wild today, and some scientists say the number could be much lower. With such rapidly dwindling numbers, individual lions like Cecil matter.

Cecil's case is especially devastating given his status as the dominant male of his pride: With the complex social structure of lion prides, the damage can be compounded since Cecil can no longer protect his pride from rogue lions and other threats. Consequently, other males, young cubs, and females are placed in danger and could very well be killed themselves now that the pride structure has been destabilized.

As barbaric as this hunter's actions appear to have been, he has plenty of company. Wealthy thrill-seekers kill approximately 600 lions every year on trophy hunts. Unfortunately, Americans are primarily to blame: Over half of all lions killed for sport in Africa are shipped to the U.S. as trophies.

Sadly, lions aren't the only imperiled species hunted for sport. Americans continue to kill rhinos, leopards, elephants, polar bears, giraffes, leopards and a variety of other animals for gruesome mementos, collecting heads as if they were merit badges. Perhaps the most perverse part about this is that the rarer and more endangered these species become, the more valuable they are to trophy hunters, as evidenced by the $50,000 price tag of this hunt and the even more egregious $350,000 permit auctioned off earlier this year by a member of the Dallas Safari Club to kill a critically endangered Namibian black rhino.

There exists a twisted logic that justifies these hunts as "conservation" efforts. Some claim that by paying for the right to kill a rare animal, the proceeds can go toward conservation efforts and thereby the kills are really in the name of conservation. Yet a number of studies have found that as little as 3 to 5% of revenues from trophy hunting operations are shared with local communities." 

PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION. DO AS I DID YESTERDAY, CONTACT YOUR STATE SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES AND ASK THEM TO SPONOR AND/OR SUPPORT LEGISLATION BANNING TROPYH HUNT IMPORTS TO THE UNITED STATES. MAKING THE CALL HELPS!!

IF WE DO NOT STOP THIS SENSELESS, INCOMPREHENSIBLE INSANITY THERE WILL BE NO MAGNIFICENT ANIMALS TO WITNESS LIVING LIFE AS THEY SHOULD IN THE WILD. WHAT A PITY FOR THE ENTIRE WORLD!