re: OB's thoughts on lion killing situation in Africa?

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The OT thread does have a fair amount of scientifically proven stats about the severe decline in the African Lion population.

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I did stop reading after about 20 pages...but to say they are a species on the brink of extinction is an exaggeration. There is a reason they are not on the endangered list, there are still over 30k lions out there. I did read that the decline in population is not due to hunting, but due to human expansion in areas once populated by lions. One might say, if it weren't for these big game hunts, the population might be less than it is now.

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How do you think the rest of the "non-hunting" population feels?

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The rest of the population is easily swayed, tell them someone shot a pet lion and suddenly they are convinced that someone needs to "rot in prison". If this guy did all of the terrible things they say he did, I am all for punishment. But instead of paying for him to "rot in prison" maybe I would prefer him to dig into those obviously deep pockets and pay, literally, for his crimes.

Big game like lions are obviously a valuable natural resource, and I think they should be regulated, closely. Should this lead to more regulation? Maybe it is needed, I don't know the answer.