Authorities in Zimbabwe are trying track down a hunter who allegedly paid park guides $50,000 (€45,000) for the chance to kill Cecil, one of Africa's most famous lions, who was the star attraction at the Hwange national park. The creature was found skinned and headless on the outskirts of the park.
The 13-year-old lion had worn a GPS collar since 1999 as part of a research project carried out by Oxford University, making it possible to trace his last movements when he was tricked into leaving the park and shot with a bow and arrow. The hunters then tracked the dying animal for 40 hours before they killed it with a rifle.
Bait, in the form of a freshly killed animal, was used to tempt Cecil out of the park, a technique commonly used so that hunters can “legally” kill protected lions.
“Cecil’s death is a tragedy, not only because he was a symbol of Zimbabwe but because now we have to give up for dead his six cubs, as a new male won’t allow them to live so as to encourage Cecil’s three females to mate,” said Johnny Rodrigues, head of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force. “The two people who accompanied the hunter have been arrested but we haven’t yet tracked down the hunter, who is Spanish.”
Reports yesterday suggested the hunter responsible may be North American rather than Spanish.
The Zimbabwe Professional Hunters and Guides Association admitted that its members were involved and that the case was being investigated. It claims it was a private safari and therefore not illegal, but the government insists that the lion lived on the reserve and came under its protection.
The Oxford University study was looking into the impact of sports hunting on lions living in the safari area surrounding the national park. The research found that 34 of 62 tagged lions died during the study period. Twenty-four were shot by sport hunters. Sport hunters in the safari areas surrounding the park killed 72 per cent of tagged adult males from the study area.
Dr Andrew Loveridge, one of the principal researchers on the project, says that "hunting predators on the boundaries of national parks such as Hwange causes significant disturbance and knock-on effects" such as infanticide when new males enter the prides.
Police are seeking the lion’s remains among the country’s taxidermists.
Bryan Orford, a professional wildlife guide who has worked in Hwange and filmed Cecil many times, told National Geographic that the lion was the park's "biggest tourist attraction". Orford calculates that with tourists from just one nearby lodge collectively paying €8,000 per day, Zimbabwe would have brought in more in just five days by having Cecil's photograph taken rather than being shot by someone paying a one-off fee of €50,000.
The incident, which occurred earlier this month and has only just come to light, has caused outrage in Zimbabwe, coming only days after the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force revealed that 23 elephant cubs had been separated from their herds in Hwange and exported to zoos in China and the United Arab Emirates. The Zimbabwean government insists the trade is legal and measures are in place to guarantee the animals’ wellbeing.
– (Guardian service)