When hunting is a blood sport

The right to sharing the planet with homo sapiens is the world’s wildlife. But we seem determined to eliminate them from the equation in an absurd and cruel massacre of the senses.
Last week the South African government made desperate moves to save the two horned rhino from extinction after it woke up to the fact that poachers in the Kruger national game reserve had all but decimated the species.
The revival of big game hunting for making money and the queue of the very rich and the very callous who find joy in killing animals for fun rather than food now threatens to wipe out other animals.
One cannot understand how Zimbabwe sent an "it’s okay" message when it dropped charges against an American dentist who killed the Cecil the lion who was a much loved mascot of the country.
See the result. The largest elephant in the country was shot dead two days ago by a German hunter who paid $60,000 for the dubious privilege of killing this magnificent beast at a time when scientists are attempting to study elephants to discover why they do not get cancer and what gene they have that could reduce mortality in humans. Since the hunter’s paper will be in order he can ship the head back to his country to taxidermy it and hang it on a wall.
Not only is it an obscene amount of money for an obscene act but the sanction by a government is incomprehensible.
Perhaps one can appreciate the need to cull herds and cover the bloodthirst with the comforting label of "sport" and turn it into a commercially viable option but when animal icons like Cecil and this giant elephant are cheerfully targeted you know there are no rules left.
If someone does not end this bloodspill for big money and there is no control many a species will disappear.
There are now 50 of them on the critically endangered list including leopards, tigers, gorillas, turtles and various kinds of rhinos.
Add to that the greed for pelts, the red seas that churn post whaling and the clubbing of seals, the so called sports like bear baiting, cock fighting, goat throwing, mistreating animals in circuses and zoos, dog and bullfighting just to name a few.
The message needs to go out loud and clear; animals are not our possessions to wear, mock or be hurt for our entertainment.