In early July, American dentist Walter Palmer killed a popular lion named Cecil. Cecil’s death caused animal activists all around the world to protest animal killings and to call for Palmer’s punishment. Still, although animal lives prove important on a global scale, human lives remain a prevailing issue that should be solved first.

Palmer lured Cecil out of hiding in a Zimbabwean animal sanctuary with the help of Theo Bronkhorst, a professional hunter. Palmer shot Cecil with a crossbow, not immediately killing the lion. According to CNN, Cecil lived in agony for another 40 hours until Palmer “mercifully” shot him with a gun, then skinned and beheaded the lion. The facts may be disheartening, but they only matter on an American level.

While Cecil remains well known in the U.S., most people from his home country do not recognize him, and frankly just do not care. It appears as if we Americans care more about Cecil than their country’s underlying problems. Do Americans even know other world problems beside the latest Trump scandal?

Over the past few years Zimbabwe has experienced an economic meltdown, causing many companies to close. Citizens must live with water shortages and no electricity. According to Business Insider, Zimbabwe’s per capita remains 2,000 dollars, 25 times less than what Palmer paid for Cecil’s killing. Human suffering glazes over in the media, while it should be the main focus. Americans love to focus on our own first-world problems, not even realizing that there are other issues destroying foreign countries.

Even in America, according to the National Center for Law and Economic Justice, an estimated 15 percent of the population live in poverty. But how many times a day do people see homeless men and women without giving them a second look? We are taught to focus on only superficial problems, attempting to ignore anything that makes us too emotional.

Why does Cecil make the news in ways that humans do not? The media tends to skim over hard problems that will make us feel guilty. We want to believe that every human can defend themselves, making it easier to focus on those who cannot―animals.