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There is something sick about killing for pleasure and trying to cloak it in the veil of conservation. Let the professionals deal with conservation. If conservation matters so much to hunters then simply donate the funds to the parks whose business it is to conserve on a professional basis. Not for pleasure and ego! — Warren MacLeod

Says who?…the clubs, you? I don’t have a problem with hunting for food. I’m not a fan of sport hunters who pay thousands to kill the the finest…my point is that a zoo should not rent space to anyone who would be seen as a conflict in relation to the purpose of a zoo..I’m not in favour of zoos either or aquariums..and the zoo rented to sport hunters who may hunt endangered species…that’s a conflict — Jimi

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David Little of Safari Club International says conservation is a goal of many hunters.

“They’re not incompatible,” said Little. “I think more dialogue would help make that clear.”

Little condemns Palmer’s killing of a lion named Cecil, calling him “a tame animal that was poached.”

Little, who describes himself as an animal lover, is himself a trophy hunter who has killed a lion while bow-hunting a leopard in Africa.

He said the money made from legal hunts helps save the species.

“The lion hunt that I took in Mozambique effectively conserved a million acres of Mozambique from animal poachers and log poachers for two months,” he told CTV Calgary.

The zoo said it does not meddle in the affairs of those who book venues.

“Our message is we want people to go out and appreciate nature in the way that we communicate and bring people down here and learn about the conservation the way we do it,” said Calgary Zoo spokeswoman Trish Exton-Parder.