Zimbabwean men in court over killing of Cecil the lion
The American dentist at the centre of a social media storm after her paid $50,000 to hunt and kill an African lion has broken his silence.
Palmer said he believed the hunt was legal.
About a century ago there were around 200,000 lions roaming across Africa but that figure has dropped to less than 30,000. “A client usually has no idea about the laws and regulations of the country he is hunting in – he just buys a safari and then places himself in the hands of his professional hunter guide”, LionAid stated.
Cecil, aged about 13, was said by safari operators to be an “iconic” animal who was recognised by many visitors to Hwange due to his distinctive black mane. The two will face poaching charges tomorrow in Hwange for the lion’s killing on July 1, he said.
Facing a maximum penalty of five years in prison, Palmer was sentenced to one year’s probation and fined almost $3,000.
[Cecil] left some cubs behind. The following video shows Cecil with his pride at the park. “They tied a dead animal to their vehicle to lure Cecil out of the park and they scented an area about half a kilometre from the park”.
“He’s come in here to shoot a lion, a national emblem and he’s been caught”. There is no moral justification for killing these animals for sport. He’s part of the Oxford scientific team that has collared and tracked Cecil. And this is where the problem comes in.
“They went hunting at night with a spotlight and they spotted Cecil”.
We have to bring in [hunting] bans on certain species of animals, like the lion and the endangered animals, so that this doesn’t occur again. This is what we most often see happening in these cases. The 13-year-old lion was found beheaded and skinned outside Hwange National Park, after being lured out of the borders with bait.
Past examples suggest that the outcry over the latest trophy hunter’s kill is unlikely to die down any time soon.
Cecil’s death has outraged conservationists around the world, and now Palmer is also feeling backlash. Welcome to the program.
Ricky Gervais branded the killing “mental”, saying it must be the thrill of murdering Cecil that could satiate people like Walter Palmer, while Shannen Doherty labeled him a “disgusting” individual.
RODRIGUES: He was very, very popular.
He described the lion as “almost semi-domesticated”.
It is outlawed, however, in Zimbabwe’s national parks.
Many tourists enjoyed seeing Cecil the Lion at the park. How would you track this down?
In a statement issued by the public relations firm, Dr. Parker stated, “In early July, I was in Zimbabwe on a bow hunting trip for big game”.
“The whole thing was perfectly legal”. The collar made it possible to trace the lion’s last movements. There are licenses. There are permits.
CORNISH: Johnny Rodrigues – he heads the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force. “What he’ll tell you is that he had the proper legal permits and he had hired several professional guides, so he’s not denying that he may be the person who shot this lion”. And it ends with this.