#AllLionsMatter is mocking the fact there's more outrage over a dead lion than dead people of colour

Unless you live under a rock you've probably heard about Cecil the lion this week, the protected Zimbabwean animal that was shot and killed by an American dentist.

Walter Palmer reportedly paid £32,000 for the chance to hunt Cecil with a crossbow, and it is alleged that the lion was lured off national park land before it was hunted. In the week since the story broke the dentist has been vilified on social media, his practice forced to shut temporarily, and now he is wanted on poaching charges in Zimbabwe. He's on the run, and US authorities are looking for him.

Cecil's barbaric death - shot with a crossbow then hunted down, decapitated and skinned 40 hours later - triggered an outpouring of grief and anger. But as the world is mourns the big cat, many people are pointing out that the outcry suggests that one dead lion matters a lot more than innocent men and women of colour being murdered by law enforcement:

AllLionsMatter has started trending, parodying the #AllLivesMatter hashtag that started as a response to #BlackLivesMatter and completely missed the point about the injustices and dangers ethic minorities face that white people don't:

Many tweets made a further point about the unfairness of a lot of language used by media in talking about the black community:

Meanwhile, in Zimbabwe, many locals are bemused by the focus on Cecil when the people of the country have much bigger problems thanks to the effects of an economic meltdown. Harare resident Eunice Vhunise told the Associated Press:

It's so cruel, but I don't understand the whole fuss, there are so many pressing issues in Zimbabwe — we have water shortages, no electricity, and no jobs — yet people are making noise about a lion?

I saw Cecil once when I visited the game park. I will probably miss him. But honestly the attention is just too much.

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