Cecil The Lion

The dentist who paid over $40,000 to go hunt down a lion has got himself in all manner of hot water, actual legal trouble in Africa, and all manner of social/business trouble back here.

His guides took him to the very edge of a National park where lions - an endangered species  - were protected. The lion was lured out of the park by  the "guides" and killed less than a half-mile away form the park border.

Cecil.

Lured out of a national park by a trail of raw meat and then

shot with a bow and arrow from cover. He was mortally wounded

 but took over a day to die.

Now, big game hunting has been a  sport for centuries. Kings, Pharaohs, politicians,  from famous people to ordinary dudes... all have partaken in this activity..

Of course, in King Tut's day, a Pharaoh that was killed in a hunting accident, nothing was endangered as it is today. In Teddy Roosevelt's day, nothing was endangered. Roosevelt even had a stuffed animal named after him, the teddy bear.

Today, hunting is a legal and very popular pasttime in America. But it is carefully regulated to insure the continuing survival of our wild game, and the idea of luring an animal with bait and then killing it from the safety of cover with  armed "guards" to protect you - just an case - is as repulsive as it is illegal.

That's one point.

My second point is that what this dentist did was not "hunting". What he did was pay some dudes to lure a lion out of its safe zone to an area where this guy was waiting with his bow and arrow, hidden and in absolute safety (his guides were armed with big guns for protection). That's not being the big, manly macho-dude hunter, that's being a cowardly loser and done strictly for ego boosting and a false sense of being a real man.  I can see no honor or reward in this kind of conduct.

A bow and arrow.

Instead of a huge rifle like the .416 Rigby, ,404 Jeffery, or the massive .505 Gibbs, weapons that can easily down a charging bull elephant, this mighty hunter used a bow and arrow. Why?  Must have enhanced his"feeling" of personal danger..

Turns out this dentist has killed many animals in his quest for self-esteem and manhood. In one instance alone, he paid $35,000 for the chance to gun down a elk.

That brings up my third point.

If I were a patient of this guy, and I found out he has spent tens of thousands of dollars just to kill animals to boost his self image, I would realize I have been getting greatly overcharged for his dental services, screwed in fact.

I would cancel any future appointments I had with this dude and walk away.

And now we are told this dentist has gone into hiding.  Can't take the heat for his actions. That pretty much proves his true level of manhood, doesn't it?

An up-scale dentist once charged - once - a family member $800 to pull a tooth. Maybe it's time to take a closer took at what these dentists are charging for their work. I know that dental insurance is almost impossible to get because of the cost. I can only conclude that insurance companies consider dentists as wildly overpriced and have adjusted their fees accordingly.