Albert Schweitzer, who won the Nobel peace prize in 1952, said, “The time will come when public opinion will no longer tolerate amusements based on the mistreatment and killing of animals. The time will come, but when? When will we reach the point that hunting, the pleasure of killing animals for sport, will be regarded as a mental aberration?”

If Schweitzer were alive today, he might fall to his knees in prayer and whisper, “Maybe now. Maybe now is the time.”

It has been reported that after Walter Palmer killed Cecil the lion in Zimbabwe, after he severed his head and skinned him, he asked his “guide” if they could find an elephant to kill — an elephant whose tusks were above a certain weight. Trophy hunters are nothing more than serial killers who prey on animals rather than people. Their thirst for blood has become big business. But it is possible that compassion can conquer cruelty, and that money can’t outweigh a groundswell movement in which people choose kindness and humanity above all else. It is also possible that that time is now.

The arguments of trophy hunters are absurd, and are being recognized for their absurdity. The money they spend to kill doesn’t go to conservation; it goes into the pockets of the people who arrange the hunts.  Zimbabwe and many other countries rely economically on tourists who come to see animals alive and thriving in their native habitat. That’s where the money is, not in killing them. The other ludicrous argument that’s presented is that it’s helpful to cull animals who are “past their prime,” as if that’s some kind of exact science. There are people who are past their prime in their 60s, and others who are running marathons in their 80s. There is just as much diversity of condition in the animal kingdom.

The truth is this: trophy hunters want to keep killing and mounting heads on their walls, and they will say anything to keep doing that. Maybe — finally — we can stand up as the humane beings we are meant to be and refuse to sanction this blood sport.

Albert Schweitzer also said, “Until he extends the circle of his compassion to all living things man will not find himself at peace.”