To truly end animal suffering, the most ethical choice is to kill wild predators (especially Cecil the lion)

These deep thinkers put forward the notion that the most ethical thing humanity could do to reduce the suffering of wild critters is to wipe out and render extinct predatory species, leaving only the brainless herbivores, and to reduce *their* numbers enough so that they all live in a leafy utopia.

Oy.

My “favorite” line:

And there’s no reason for considering the lives of predators like lions to be more important than the lives of their prey.

Well, except that predators are almost always substantially smarter than prey. Humans willingly associate ourselves with predators far more so than with prey. Look at your pets: Sure, there might be the occasional bunny or berry-eating turtle, but do the families that have such really think of those animals as parts of the family? Contrast to pet cats and dogs. Those fellers *are* parts of the family.

The mindset that leads people to think that getting rid of carnivores may be funny, but it’s also worrisome. Just as welfare states lead nations to weakness, so does a philosophy that carnivores are necessarily evil lead to weakness. And weakness makes you easier prey for other people who *don’t* share your fluffy worldview.