Before The Murder Of Cecil The Lion Teddy Roosevelt Bagged 9 Lions In Africa

The murder of Cecil the Lion by a psychopathic American dentist has outraged, appalled and disgusted people all over the planet.

The murdering dentist thinks he is participating in the sport of hunting. He lured Cecil from his home, shot him with an arrow, then trailed Cecil for 40 hours before completing the murder with a gunshot. Followed by severing Cecil's head and skinning him.

The fact that much of the world is outraged over the murder of Cecil the Lion indicates the planet has evolved into being a more humane planet over the past hundred years.

In March of 1909, shortly after turning over the presidency to William Howard Taft, Theodore Roosevelt took off to Africa to do some big game hunting in a year long safari.

At the end of year long safari hunt Roosevelt listed nearly 300 animals that he "bagged".

"Bagged" is Roosevelt's word for killed. Among the animals Roosevelt listed as having bagged were nine lions, five elephants, thirteen rhinoceroses, and seven hippopotamuses.

This safari was known as the Smithsonian-Roosevelt African Expedition. The purpose of the safari was to hunt for specimens for the Smithsonian Institution and New York City's American Museum of Natural History.

In addition to the 300 animals Roosevelt bagged, the Expedition as a whole killed or trapped some 11,400 animals, ranging from insects to rats to hippos to elephants.

Of the 11,400 specimens taken, 512 of were big game animals,  including six rare white rhinos. The animals killed which were intended for exhibits were skinned, preserved in salt and shipped to the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.

Tons of dead animals were shipped back to America. It  took many years for the Smithsonian to taxidermize them all.

After the safari Roosevelt wrote about the experience in African Game Trails, were Roosevelt detailed the excitement of bagging the big game.

Roosevelt must have received some criticism about his mass murder of so many defenseless animals. Roosevelt defended the mass murder by saying, "I can be condemned only if the existence of the National Museum, the American Museum of Natural History, and all similar zoological institutions are to be condemned".

I suspect if Teddy Roosevelt was still around he would join in the world wide condemnation of the murder of Cecil the Lion.