Better game to pursue

I must write about this, I reckon. It won’t go away, so I’ll have to do something on it.
First, in case you been under a rock in the Appalachians or somewhere where there is no Internet or TV and don’t know the story, I’m going to talk lion killing this hot Sunday morning.
Cecil was a black-maned lion killed by American “big-game” hunter Dr. Walter Palmer in Zimbabwe. Cecil was a 13-old star attraction at the Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe. Cecil was lured with a carcass outside of the park, shot with a bow and arrow, then beheaded and skinned.
But Cecil was not just any other lion. He wore a collar by which scientists at the University of Oxford had been tracking him since 2008. He was by all accounts a friendly, as they say in war. Cecil, pronounced Ceh-cil not Ceee-cil for those in the know, was about as wild and cunning and dangerous as one of my Doxies.
A dentist with the whitest teeth I’ve ever seen in a photo was the hunting culprit. A rich dentist. I’ve never trusted folks who root around in my mouth. Just saying.
Social media exploded. Sides were picked. Bows and arrows were drawn on both sides.
First, this is not exactly the same as the guy who put fireworks into the mouth of a dog and let them explode, essentially killing the dog in the worst way possible. There ought to be a special place in hell for that kind of guy.
But in another stark way, Palmer’s arrow was worse, though. African lions have fallen from 200,000 to 30,000 in the past couple of decades. To kill for sport, rather than for meat as with deer and other pretty critters is, to me, criminal.
I’m an unabashed animal lover. No question or doubt, though I eat my pig, my cow, my chicken and the occasional deer meat, and don’t get me started on a catfish or two or three.
But...
And it’s a big but ...
In Zimbabwe, there are other matters that might be more pressing.
Eunice Vhunise, a resident of Harare, Zimbabwe (which is near the park) says this: “It’s so cruel, but I don’t understand the whole fuss; there are so many pressing issues in Zimbabwe — we have water shortages, no electricity, and no jobs — yet people are making noise about a lion?
“I saw Cecil once when I visited the game park. I will probably miss him. But honestly, the attention is just too much.”
An economic meltdown over the past few years have closed many companies in that country and left two-thirds of the population out of work while battling acute water and electricity shortages.
So, here’s the deal as I see it. Let’s start an offering in Cecil’s name at our churches in our gaboodle of denominations (and Palmer should pay the first $50,000 or so U.S. dollars as that’s what it cost him to kill Cecil) that will help provide clean drinking water for the residents of Harare. Let that offering also begin to explore other means of providing electricity in an arid land.
Let’s quit talking about doing harm to Palmer, as a human life — even a fool’s life — isn’t of the same worth as an animal, even one who has a name. Just stop it.
If I was (Lion) king of the world, and Lord knows I’m not, I would tell everyone to quit killing game for sport and buy all those guys and gals a video game or two if they just have to go shoot something.
I ain’t lying.
Billy Turner is a pastor of the United Methodist denomination and a retired journalist.