Like so many other people in the world, I was saddened — and sickened — by the news about the slaying of Cecil the lion alleged to have been committed by an American trophy-hunting dentist.

And I have little sympathy for that dentist now — if he did it — who has shuttered his business and gone into hiding as outrage grows. He has probably brought ruin upon himself, as have those who aided and enabled the hideous act.

Of course, many will point out the hypocrisy of so many people condemning the killing of one lion while remaining silent about the slaughter of so many other animals — domesticated and wild — around the world every day.

If only the killing of each and every animal got so much publicity. If only the media could accurately depict the fear each innocent animal feels in the moments before a human murders them. And it is murder, except in rare cases of self-defence.

The Cecil incident may raise some animal rights awareness, but we are kidding ourselves if we think it will make any difference in man’s inhumane treatment of the animal kingdom.

It won’t, of course. Hunters will still hunt, the meat industry will still slaughter animals, and people will still eat the flesh of all God’s creatures, great and small.

Sometimes when I think about what mankind does to animals, it makes me ashamed to be a member of the human race.

— Jillian