Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few days, you’ll no doubt be aware of the Cecil the Lion story. If you don’t know what’s been happening, allow us to fill you in.
Dr Walter J Palmer, a dentist from Minnesota – USA, recently paid £35,000 to hunt and kill a lion. And while that, by itself, is deplorable behaviour. The matter was made worse by the fact that the animal, in question, turned out to be Zimbabwe’s most famous lion.
“Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few days, you’ll no doubt be aware of the Cecil the Lion story.”
As you’d expect, in an age of widespread social media use, the internet reacted in full force; cooking up a whirlwind of hate and anger. Famous faces including Ricky Gervais, cricket player Kevin Pietersen, and supermodel Cara Delevigne are just some of the well-known names to have weighed in with an opinion.
The topic has been trending on Twitter under #RipCecilTheLion, #RipCecil, #CecilTheLion, and #WalterPalmer.
RIP #CecilTheLion I’m struggling to imagine anything more beautiful than this pic.twitter.com/lile3Kb2dk
— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) July 28, 2015
If it wasn’t for the occasional retweet of a David Brent quote, in between all the animal rights stuff, we might forget Ricky Gervais is responsible for the greatest comedy character in history.
I don’t know about you but I’m quite uptight about the killing of #CecilTheLion . That dentist needs his testicles extracted… — Lord Ashcroft (@LordAshcroft) July 29, 2015
We’ve seen enough Game Of Thrones to know that a Lord is well within his right to do whatever the hell he wants. On that basis, Dr Palmer should be extremely concerned about his groin-vegetables.
Dr Walter J Palmer you disgusting coward! #CeciltheLion 😡 pic.twitter.com/UP04AVsHZN — Kevin Pietersen (@KP24) July 29, 2015
Kevin Pietersen, a maverick on and off the field, just hit the nail on the cricket ball…with his cricket bat.
This #WalterPalmer is a poor excuse of a human being! — Cara Delevingne (@Caradelevingne) July 28, 2015
I know I’m a little late but ugh…so mad about #CecilTheLion 😡😫
— Nicole Polizzi (@snooki) July 29, 2015
We haven’t seen Jersey Shore but, if we had, we’d say something about it here.
Seeing the backlash about #CecilTheLion this morning, I almost feel guilty for running over all those cats on the way to work. — Rufus Hound (@RufusHound) July 29, 2015
Rufus Hound is a comedian so he was probably joking when he tweeted this. Either that, or he’s just confessed to an animal killing spree and we’re so caught up in our rage over Cecil that we’ve become blinded to anything not directly related to lions…called Cecil.
We will never learn of the damage we have done until there is nothing left. #CecilTheLion — Theo Rossi (@Theorossi) July 29, 2015
Hunting is not a sport. In a sport, both sides know they’re in the game. #CecilTheLion — Nicky Rothschild (@NickyHilton) July 29, 2015
Nicky is a fashion designer, a socialite, and a model. She’s also really pissed off about Cecil.
Where am I get my licence to shoot, skin and decapitate Minnesotan dentists? http://t.co/cPH4LccD75 #CecilTheLion pic.twitter.com/1qeYpV7Ouc — Stephen Mangan (@StephenMangan) July 28, 2015
There’s a lot of this sentiment going around at the moment, and British actor Stephen Mangan has captured it perfectly in 140 characters.
Leave him a lovely yelp review! #WalterJamesPalmer #CecilTheLion pic.twitter.com/k3Jncwy5ps — Katherine Ryan (@Kathbum) July 28, 2015
Katherine Ryan is a Canadian comedian. She drew attention to the fact that a number of angry people are trolling Dr Palmer’s dental practice with reviews on Yelp.
#CecilTheLion killed by #Walter the dentist. King of the jungle killed by idiot of the city. https://t.co/rqgd787Z4X — Sanjeev Bhaskar (@TVSanjeev) July 28, 2015
Sanvjeev Bhaskar made his name on comedy classic ‘Goodness Gracious Me’. When it comes to Cecil The Lion, he isn’t pulling any punches. In other news, some people have been taking revenge by turning the entrance to Dr Palmer’s dental office into a memorial for trophy-hunted animals.
Can’t make this up. Walter Palmer dental office morphed into makeshift memorial. Suppose #CecilTheLion in foreground pic.twitter.com/tW59sUuB3J — Paul Blume (@PaulBlume_FOX9) July 28, 2015
Even God is getting involved…
Thou shalt not allow a stupid dentist to kill one of the most majestic creatures on Earth. #RIPCecil — God (@TheGoodGodAbove) July 28, 2015
…oh, and a man called Cecil (with this genuine eye-opener).
By ratio of population, the death of one lion is equal to the deaths of roughly 2,000,000 people. #CecilTheLion — Cecil Baldwin (@CecilBaldwinIII) July 28, 2015
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