Killing famous lion ‘was a mistake’

Published Jul 28, 2015

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A Zimbabwean hunter says he was devastated when he discovered his client had shot a bow and wounded a widely loved lion, known by locals and tourists as Cecil, who was part of a lion research project run by Oxford University for the past 15 years in the huge Hwange National Park.

The hunter and his “North American” client returned the next morning and found the lion was injured, and immediately killed it to put it out of its misery.

The carcass and head of the animal are mostly missing.

The professional hunter, who has asked not to be named until official investigations are complete, said his client, who he would not name, was a North American.

He added that he and his client laid bait on land outside the national park, and by torchlight, his client shot the “magnificent” lion at night with a bow and arrow. The 13-year-old lion then loped off into the long grass.

He said he wasn’t sure where the lion had been hit. “We couldn’t follow it at night.” the hunter said.

“The next morning we found it was wounded and we dispatched it. My client and I were devastated when we saw the lion had a (GPS identification) collar from this project around his neck.

“It was a magnificent, mature lion. We didn’t know it was well-known lion. I knew nothing about this lion. I had a licence for my client to shoot a lion with a bow and arrow in the area where it was shot.”

He said his client was “terribly sorry”, not only about the lion but about the collar.

“We put the collar in the tree near the bait we had put down.”

The collar hasn’t been found, according to officials working for Oxford University’s lion project in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe’s wildlife community are outraged by the death of Cecil earlier this month on a former commercial farm in the Gwayi district, adjacent to Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe’s premier wildlife refuge.

“Hunting at night by spotlight should be banned. It is not fair and is cruel, and the loss of this particular lion was a tragedy. Shooting with bow and arrow is also not good,” said Trevor Lane, a veteran Zimbabwean conservationist at Victoria Falls.

The farm where the bow hunt took place is now owned by Lucky Mpofu, from a well-known local political family, who was, industry sources said, paid a fee for the hunt on the land, known as Antoinette, which he took from a white farmer after President Robert Mugabe ordered land invasions after 2000.

The hunter said he reported his “mistake” over Cecil’s death to the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority the next day.

“It was a mistake… a terrible mistake,” he said.

The Zimbabwe Professional Hunters and Guides Association is investigating. It can suspend the hunter from membership of the associations, but he can be suspended as a professional hunter only by the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority.

Some say he could face criminal charges if the licence for shooting the lion or the location were irregular, although the hunter says he has been cleared of any misdemeanours by Zimbabwe’s National Parks investigation team.

Independent Foreign Service

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