What if Cecil were a well know Bald Eagle?

[Chilli]

Think what you want about me (it will probably be untrue), but inserting beheadings by ISIS into the conversation is a sad attempt to belittle the natural emotion that has arisen from the "killing" of a well known lion, for his head as a trophy, and NOW, I understand also his brother.  Which will probably mean the obliteration of his 2 cubs as well by other lion's taking over the pride ( a natural thing - still no less disconcerting ).

I pose the question, "What if Cecil were a well known Bald Eagle?" because that is something far more familiar to me.  I see them regularly (occasionally nesting few hundred feet from my house).  I grew up in the same area and never saw a single one, until they were able to make a comeback from endangered species in the past couple of decades.

 To study one of these creatures in the wild, you cannot help but attach emotions of fearlessness, pride, confidence, as well as respect its strength, stature and high regard as a symbol for our nation.  All of that from something very nearly a vulture.  I can barely imagine what human emotions one would attach to the magnificent beast, known to many as king.  This is not a character flaw, maybe even a primal sense necessary in determining predator or prey.

 I also understand human's desire to test and hone survival skills.  Without passing judgement on the circumstances, there is a clear right and wrong here, but only the facts of who knew what and when will determine that.  I believe most hunters have come to a similar conclusion.

https://youtu.be/V716rhitp1g?t=1m44s

[Oldman731]

I pose the question, "What if Cecil were a well known Bald Eagle?"

Well, Chilli, the big difference is that lion meat doesn't taste very good, but bald eagle...does!

- oldman

[Chilli]

Sorry Oldman,

That reminds me of a kid who asked me if I liked corn fed turkeys or meat fed turkeys better.  Meat fed of course, he laughed and pointed to a turkey buzzard vulture ..... "well there you go."

Later in years my dad told a story of a friend sitting over a pale, apparently working up a sweat.  "Man, this ole turkey sure is tough to pluck"......  dad informed him that it was indeed a turkey vulture.  His friend was so discusted, he kicked the pale over and poured gas on it and burned everything right there.

Well, Chilli, the big difference is that lion meat doesn't taste very good, but bald eagle...does!

- oldman

That depends on who you ask.

[Aspen]

I've been watching a pair of bald eagles this summer on a friends place.  Eaglets were big when I was there couple weeks ago.  May be testing their wings by now.

As a hunter I saw so much incorrect information in the news regarding this story that I will reserve judgment until the facts are known.  I have seen info from someone closer to the situation that leads me to believe the dentist was likely unaware of any wrong doing and that aside from turning the collar in right away, the hunt may have been legal.

What struck me right away was the lions name.  With Zimbabwe's history, a rich white guy hunting on a black landowners property killing a lion being studied by Oxford and named after Cecil Rhodes has some irony.  Maybe I'm alone in seeing that irony as I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere.

[FLOOB]

Native americans would kill eagles just for their feathers.

[Chilli]

Native americans would kill eagles just for their feathers.

Okay, if you say so.  May have just been some dusty old nickel western I read, but I recall something about climbing the cliffs to their nests to retrieve the feathers.  We are probably both inaccurate.  Anyhow, different time different culture. 

The Meaning of Feathers
The generalised meaning of feathers signified honor & connected the owner with the Creator and the bird the feathers came from. Native Indian warriors were awarded a feather when they took coup or were particularly brave in battle. When a feather falls to earth, the Native Americans believe it carries all of the energy of its former attachment on a bird to a living being. Feathers are perceived as gifts from the sky, the sea and the trees. Feathers arrive unexpectedly, but not without purpose.

It doesn't explicitedly say how they were obtained here http://www.warpaths2peacepipes.com/native-american-culture/meaning-of-feathers.htm but the highlighted text above suggest something different from what we both thought.  That is not to say they were not hunted by any Native Americans, with such diversity in cultures.

[FLOOB]

Yeah they would kill them. Bald eagles don't nest on cliffs like in Nacho Libre. From what I remember growing up in the sticks they usually nest on top of old snags or telephone poles around lakes, they mainly eat fish.

[Scherf]

If Cecil had been a bald eagle, he wouldn't have been in Zimbabwe - a country whose thoroughgoing lawlessness is apparent to everyone except dentists.

[Chilli]

Floob,



This is an aerial of Fones Cliffs.  Designated as a Global Hot Spot for Bald Eagles.  About 30 miles up the road from me (a lot closer as the eagle flies).  Yes, there they build their nests in the trees along the cliffs.

This fella, on the other hand, seems to be nesting on a .............................



Maybe there weren't enough telephone poles back in the 1800's  before Native Americans were driven off their ancestral lands. 

Potato, potato .... let someone come from another country and shoot a Bald Eagle, how much would be made of that?  Just any ole Bald Eagle at that.  No one named it, put a collar on it, basically fed it, or interacted with it in any way...........

[BaldEagl]

   

[guncrasher]

I have killed baldeagl.  does my Canadian green card need to be destroyed?



semp

[Chilli]

Semp,

That BaldEagl was Canadian, so you were within your AH rights    We have to protect the borders  ya know.............  enough of this immigration..... ummmm migration stuff 

[PR3D4TOR]

That would have been an impressive shot with a bow...

[craz07]

If Cecil were a bald eagle there would be the same reaction, you don't just go around killing things for sport, it's just not how it works in real life