President Obama was really impressed by lion-killing years before his administration started investigating the killing of Cecil the Lion.
Obama, whose administration is assisting the Zimbabwean government in an investigation into Cecil’s killing by Minnesota dentist Walter Palmer, didn’t used to have a problem with lion-killing, according to his 1995 book “Dreams From My Father.”
Obama detailed his conversation with Masai guardsmen protecting him during a visit to Kenya. Obama explained that the guardsmen “had each killed a lion to prove their manhood.”
The guardsmen engaged in illegal lion-hunting.
“Recently one of the cattle had been killed by a lion, and although it was illegal now, he and four others had hunted the lion into the preserve,” Obama wrote.
In the below excerpt, Obama asks one of the Masai guardsmen about his brave lion-killing, which Obama compares to fixing a car.
“How do you kill a lion?” I asked.
“Five men surround it and throw their spears,” Wilson said. “The lion will choose one man to pounce. That man, he curls under his shield while the other four finish the job.”
“It sounds dangerous,” I said stupidly.
Wilson shrugged. “Usually there are only scratches. But sometimes only four will come back.”
The man didn’t sound like he was boasting – more like a mechanic trying to explain a difficult repair…”