Community | January 25, 2011 | 25 comments

'Under threats,' Tucson restaurant calls off African lion taco special

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bundlebear
A Tucson restaurant won’t serve African lion tacos after all because it received “many threats on the safety of our restaurant, our families, our customers and our vendors,” its owner said tonight.
Boca Tacos and Tequila, 828 E. Speedway, planned to sell lion tacos one time, Feb. 16, as the latest in its Wednesday “exotic” taco specials, which previously included frog legs, alligator, rocky mountain oysters and rattlesnake.
“While Boca will always take the utmost pride in offering creative and unique menu items ... we will not do so at the risk of safety for their families, customers, vendors, supporters, and friends,” owner Bryan Mazon said in a news release.
In a telephone interview, Mazon said he reported threats to Tucson police “and we do have a case number.” He said there were probably 20-25 “direct threats,” and “probably hundreds” of indirect threats, many of them made on Facebook.
He also said telephone threats were called in to his own family’s home, after critics posted his personal information on Facebook.
“I can’t put my family members in any sort of harm’s way,” Mazon said. Police told him to contact them with any additional threats, he said.
Mazon said he and the restaurant never received a single threat due to any other exotic meat it has served.
On the other end of the spectrum, “we probably had over 100 pre-orders” for the African lion tacos, he said, including queries about shipments around the country. He said he hadn’t yet ordered the lion meat he would have sold.
He said he’ll announce the replacement special for Feb. 16 but hasn’t decided.

http://azstarnet.com/business/local/article_5931374a-282b-11e0-93a2-001cc4c002e0...
  1. groups:
    Community,   WTF,   Animal Videos and News,   Veganism,   5 more
  2. tags:
    Restaurants,  Lions,  Threats,  Death Threats,  2 more
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25 comments // 'Under threats,' Tucson restaurant calls off African lion taco special

  • RojoGatto
  • bundlebear
  • harleyblueswoman
  • bundlebear
  • bigdadytid
  • chanTelaLie
  • Nephwrack
  • remanns
  • Saladin
    • +2
      Saladin  

    • What a bunch of troglodytes.

      Oh, let's have a fun night where we eat an animal who likely won't exist in twenty years because of us.

      It's fucking pathetic. I really feel no sympathy for these people.

    • 1 year ago
  • TWirth
    • -3
      TWirth  

    • Sounds like solid fun to me. Don't understand the sensitivity...Not considering the long history of other fun animal based food. Maybe we should take the lions out of animal crackers before Nabisco gets blown up...

    • 1 year ago
  • Saladin
  • PzLuvHappeniz
    • +1
      PzLuvHappeniz  

    • I wont get on my liberal high horse here I love meat but I'm just curious where did the idea of lion tacos come from and where do you get lion meat?

    • 1 year ago
  • a619ko
  • good_stuff
  • noxidereus
    • 0
      noxidereus  

    • They could probably have gotten them to refrain from serving lion meat without the primitive ape-like threats.

      This story makes one wonder, is it really less moral to eat a lion than a chicken/pig/cow, or is it just because lions are cuter?

      After some thought I conclude that this system of morality is completely superficial and meaningless. It would be a worthwhile exercise to determine how superficiality rather than substance dominates our moral system in other ways as well. Racism comes to mind. Nationalism as well. Being more lenient in sentencing police officers or famous/rich people. How about the way we treat women in this country?

      After some further thought I conclude that human beings are far less evolved than we think we are.

    • 1 year ago
  • ozoneocean
    • +1
      ozoneocean  
    • noxidereus:

      You're confusing this situation- it's about a bussiness not being able to make money from a gimmick because it proved socially unnacceptable to a portion of the community.

      Boohoo, bad bussiness decision. Go back to making the taccos out of cow and chicken instead. Whatever.

      I save my indignation for real issues like discrimination over culture, sexuality, gender or ethnicity.

      - But I DO hope the people who issued the death threats go to jail.

    • 1 year ago
  • ii386
    • +1
      ii386  
    • noxidereus:

      Well, let's see. First, chickens, pigs, and cows are not at the top of the food chain in their respective areas. Second, they are domesticated animals raised with the PURPOSE OF EATING. Third, Lions populations aren't even comparable to those animals you mention. So I think your further thought about the superficiality of our consumption habits really doesn't add up because you did not consider all relevant details. It has nothing to do with appearance, but rather stature in the animal kingdom that makes eating lion meat appalling to me.

    • 1 year ago
  • TypeMemeHere
  • good_stuff
    • 0
      good_stuff  
    • TypeMemeHere:

      Pig and cow would be pretty difficult in my opinion. Pigs are quite wicked, and I've heard that bullets can/do bounce of the skull of an adult cow.

      Also, does that mean that children and weak women wouldn't be allowed to eat anything other than poultry? Can we include ducks regardless of the fact that I couldn't catch a wild one with my own bare hands?

    • 1 year ago
  • ozoneocean
    • 0
      ozoneocean  

    • Part of what led to this situation is naivete on the part of the restaurant owner.
      Part of living and working within a community is adhering to the standards of what is considered socially acceptable behaviour.
      Clearly in this case they've gone quite a bit against what the community considers acceptable behaviour- like serving dolphin.

      Obviously threats against people's lives are also unacceptable, but the fact that it elicited such strong reactions from people presumably in their area is a good indication that they're doing something wrong.

      If this had to do with people reacting this way to something involving homosexuality, or Muslims or some other human rights issue like that then this would be worthy of more concern, but as this is just a shallow purely commercial venture I can't really bring myself to care at all.

    • 1 year ago
  • Stoneyroad
    • 0
      Stoneyroad  
    • ozoneocean:

      I doubt the outrage was local, I saw this story on TMZ last week.
      But seeing as this taco shop is in Tucson AZ. who would risk ignoring a death threat after the shootings earlier this month.

    • 1 year ago
  • ss8ncjp
    • 0
      ss8ncjp  

    • Hmmm, as a replacement maybe he should serve chicken...actually, I can't blame the guy for pulling the promotion, considering the morons out there making threats against his family. This to me is the fundamental problem with the social medial sphere; someone decides this guy is a villain and suddenly he's getting threats against his business, someone posts his personal information so people can make threats against his family? What's next? Wear an ugly tie and fear for your life?

      Also, if you make a threat about something like this, you are a hypocrite. Either you are a vegan or animal rights activist, in which case making a threat of bodily harm against another human makes you a hypocrite (humans are animals too) or you eat meat. What's the difference between lion and chicken or beef? Nothing except perception. If you eat meat and have a problem with this, you're a hypocrite *and* an idiot. I'm not saying I would eat it, but that's what makes America great. The freedom to choose. Don't want to eat lion? Then don't. But to make threats against a man's family and business for serving it is ignorant, childish, and an insult to the basic American principles of personal freedoms. Of course, the right to freedom of speech is one of our most precious rights. But no one should be allowed to threaten anyone or their family with bodily harm over food. It's just stupid.

    • 1 year ago
  • NiceN
  • toyotabedzrock
  • bundlebear
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