Internet uproar after lion poached in Zimbabwe

World Today

Douglas Jones

Via Twitter @ search
Published July 28, 2015 at 6:53 PM
Updated August 3, 2015 at 10:44 AM

An American is at the center of outrage on the Internet after being accused of taking part in luring a popular lion named Cecil off a reserve in Zimbabwe, then killing it with a bow and arrow.
Zimbabwean police say they are looking for Walter James Palmer, and American from the U.S. state of Minnesota, in connection with the alleged illegal killing of a popular lion in Zimbabwe. Two Zimbabwean men are set to appear in court for allegedly helping lure the lion outside of a protected area so that foreign hunters could kill it, according to authorities.

Charity Charamba, a Zimbabwean police spokeswoman said the American, Walter James Palmer, faces poaching charges. The Zimbabwean men involved could face up to 15 years in prison. Allegations are also surfacing that the men even tried to destroy Cecil the Lion’s GPS collar, which was being used to track the animal in a university study. More details here:>>

This story has the Internet on fire
Animal welfare advocates and others from all over the world flooded a facebook page said to belong to Walter James Palmer. Palmer, an avid big game hunter, works as a dentist. Below are some screen shots of the facebook page when it was still active. The page was overrun by angry comments coming in from all over the world. The page is now inactive.

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The dental practice where Palmer works has had its Yelp (a popular business reviewing website in the U.S.) page flooded with loads of unflattering comments coming in since the incident. Questions about the ethicality of this action on Yelp’s part have come about by reviewers who claim their comments were removed from River Bluff Dental’s profile page on the site. A request by CCTV America Digital to Yelp for comment on their choice to allow these comment’s removal was answered and Yelp representatives have this to say:

“Media-fueled reviews typically violate our Content Guidelines. One of these deals with relevance. For example, reviews aren’t the place for rants about a business’s employment practices, political ideologies, extraordinary circumstances, or other matters that don’t address the core of the consumer experience. Yelp reviews are required to describe a firsthand consumer experience, not what someone read in the news. Our user support team ultimately removes reviews that violate these guidelines.”

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And don’t forget about the inevitable stream of chatter on twitter. This reporter has been sending out photos of the hunter’s home and office.

CCTV America Digital