Just an opinion which I don’t think meets the spirit of what the catechism says at all!
The government of Zimbabwe indicated that it was not needless that a lion die when it issued the permit.
This is commonly done in wildlife management. I don’t have direct experience with Zimbabwe, but I do regular mission trips to Tanzania, to a rural diocese that is on the Serengti plateau. The diocese is not in the park itself, but I interact with the park officials on occasion.
The proper management of lions involves that dominant lions be removed. This is necessary to ensure the genetic diversity of the pride.
Due to loss of habitat, the range of lions is restricted. Those near game preserves benefit from the greater numbers of prey animals. They are generally more fit and stronger than others.
In a pride, adoleceant male lions are kicked out by the dominant lion and forced to fend for themselves. Most will die, but in the past, some males have been able to best a dominant lion and take over the pride. This provides a new genetic line for the pride, and that is a good thing.
But for male lions who dominate a pride near, or on, a game preserve, they stay on much longer than they normally would have in a completely wild environment. The females have better hunting, so they catch more game. The problem, though, is that genetic diversity is lost. A domainant lion would end up mating with the own daughters, and, in some cases, his own daughter\granddaughter. Not good.
So parks eliminate male lions, just a few, but some every year.
This opens up opportunities for the loner males from other prides to become dominant, and thus add new genetics to the pride.
So the question now becomes, do the parks use their limited revenue to hire someone to take out the requisite number of lions, or do they offer permits, where upon they GET revenue.
That one is a no brainer. If you had a tree in your yard that needed to be removed because it was causing deformities in several other trees, and then someone offered to PAY you $50,000 remove it FOR you, you would jump on it too, wouldn’t you…
So the fact that a permit was issued fulfills the part of the CCC in that the animals death was NOT needless.