CRI听力:Empire State Building Shines with Light Projections of Endangered Species

Photos of endangered wildlife, including an image of Cecil the lion, are projected on the Empire State Building.

Travis Threlkel, chief creative officer at Obscura Digital, is an organizer of the event.

"What's happening, when you think about how big hearted and how much we all care and feel the tragedy around Cecil, when you compare that, that's the same feeling that we want everyone to feel and understand for all life on our planet, including us, we're on that list."

The large-scale projections are in part inspired and produced by filmmakers of an upcoming documentary called "Racing Extinction".

The film follows activists going undercover to expose the black markets of hunting, killing, and eating endangered wildlife.

Director Louie Psihoyos is also behind the Oscar winning film "The Cove".
His new documentary shines a light on the threat of mass extinction of endangered species.

"There's a great line from our movie, it said, 'It's better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.' We're lighting the biggest candle in the world up there. This event tonight will hopefully celebrate these animals and give them a chance because Cecil the lion that just died, there's a lot more lions left. They're endangered."

The death of the beloved and protected Cecil the Lion in Zimbabwe at the hands of American dentist Walter Palmer has ignited the fury of animal lovers.

The killing has also raised global awareness of big game hunting, a lucrative tourism draw for some African countries where hunters can pay tens of thousands of dollars to track and kill lions and other large animals.

New Yorkers watching the endangered wildlife projections on the Empire State Building have mixed feelings about Cecil's death.

"I don't think New York cares, I really don't. They killed that lion, they're going to track down the dentist, they're going to take his molars away, that's all. We're a species like the lions and we're killing more of us than they are of lions."

The parks authority in Zimbabwe has imposed an indefinite ban on hunting outside Zimbabwe's biggest park, from where Cecil had lived before being shot dead.

It's been reported that Cecil's brother - Jericho - has also been shot and killed.

The parks authority has not confirmed the killing.

For CRI, I'm Wang Wei.