What is up with doctors taking life instead of preserving it? Zimbabwean authorities have said that a second US doctor has illegally killed a lion back in April this year. He has also killed quite a few other animals, AP reports.
The doctor in question is Jan Casimir Seski of Murrysville, Pennsylvania. According to the Zimbabwe’s National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, the doctor has illegally killed a lion with a bow and arrow. He did that without any approval and on land where hunting is not allowed even with permits, the authorities say.
Seski is a gynecological oncologist who directs the Center for Bloodless Medicine and Surgery at the Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh. Safari outfitters and bow-hunting sites know Seski very well. It turns out he has posted quite a few photos of himself next to killed animals like at least six elephants, a hippo, an ostrich, several antelopes, a kudu and a nyala.
Zimbabwe’s authorities have suspended hunting of lions, leopards and elephants in the Hwange area. They have added a new rule that bow and arrow hunting can only be approved by the head of the wildlife authority. The owner of the land where the killing of the lion has happened has been arrested and is helping with the investigation, the authorities say.
Meanwhile Seski hasn’t made any statements nor he has been found at his work or home, AP says. “When hunters come into the country they fill a document stating their personal details, the amount they have paid for the hunt, the number of animals to be hunted, the species to be hunted and the area and period where that hunt is supposed to take place. The American conducted his hunt in an area where lion hunting is outlawed. The landowner who helped him with the hunt also did not have a have a quota for lion hunting”, says Zimbabwe National Parks’ spokeswoman.
The authorities are still working on the extradition documents for Walter Palmer, the dentist who killed Cecil the lion and is still hiding.
Strangely, Seski has defenders. Stewart Dorrington, who operates Melorani Safaris and owns a game reserve in neighboring South Africa where Seski hunted in 2012, says he is a “great guy” and adds that funds from trophy hunting are essential for conserving wildlife.
In Washington, U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., announced the “Conserving Ecosystems by Ceasing the Importation of Large (CECIL) Animal Trophies Act,” which would expand import bans to species proposed for listing as threatened or endangered, as well as those already listed as endangered. “The logic is that if you keep killing them, they will become endangered,” Menendez spokesman Steven Sandberg said Sunday.
We ourselves fail to see how you can help preserve wildlife by killing it. Trophy hunting should be banned. It makes no sense to claim you love animals and then go and kill them. If you love animals, go and help them live a better, safer life.
