Big game hunters with psychiatric issues

So Walter Palmer, the douchebag dentist from Minnesota who killed Cecil the lion, has issued an apology of sorts. The man clearly doesn’t get it. He says he “had no idea that the lion was a known, local favourite,” and that he “relied on the expertise of local professional guides” to ensure that the hunt was legal. He ends his “apology” with: “Again, I deeply regret that my pursuit of an activity I love and practice responsibly and legally resulted in the taking of this lion.” The activity he loves is killing wild, magnificent animals for fun. The fact that he killed an “iconic” lion this time has resulted in lots of media coverage. But killing any lion – or giraffe, or leopard, or elk (all of which he has killed in the past) – is the sign of a sick mind. In fact inflicting needless suffering on animals is one of the hallmarks of psychopathy.

Palmer seems to think killing animals for fun is okay as long as it’s “legal”, and that his only mistake has been to kill a lion that was well known. He doesn’t seem to “get” that for a grown man to travel halfway round the world to kill a wild animal for no other reason than to satisfy his own warped sense of sadistic pleasure is indicative of a profound psychological defect.