Way to go: Delta, United and American ban big game trophies carriage

I applaud US carriers Delta, United and American for banning the carriage of big game trophies on their flights, as I did Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines for banning the carriage of shark fins in view of the inhumane harvesting.

Yet I find it strange that some people were pressing to know the “official” reason why. Where were they holed up when an American dentist killed Cecil the lion in Zimbabwe?

Courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Delta Air Lines announced in a brief statement: “Effective immediately, Delta will officially ban shipment of all lion, leopard, elephant, rhinoceros and buffalo trophies worldwide as freight.”

It’s good enough for me, as for the thousands of people who could not understand why Cecil (and others) should suffer such a fate for the pleasure of some egomaniac who needed badly to impress some barmaid or prove to his friends he had something between his legs lest we forget.

United Airlines spokesman Charles Hobart said: “We felt it made sense to do so.”

Business is not all about making big money alone. Walter Palmer from Minnesota who killed the tagged animal was said to have paid US$50,000 to hunt Cecil, a major tourist attraction in the Hwange National Park and a subject of research at the University of Oxford.

Money talks, but moral responsibility keeps businesses in check to do the right thing, earning the people’s respect and support.

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