Harare - One of Africa’s most famous lions has been shot and decapitated by a wealthy Western trophy hunter who paid £36 000 for the kill.
Cecil, a 13-year-old male, was lured out of the protection of a national park in Zimbabwe and shot with a bow and arrow.
Injured, the big cat was then tracked for two days before he was finished off with a rifle, skinned and his head taken as a trophy.
Cecil was a major tourist attraction in Hwange National Park and had been fitted with a tracking device by Oxford University scientists as part of a study.
There are varying reports about the nationality of the marksman, who paid £36 000 for a local expert to bait the lion over the park boundaries. One professional guide told The Daily Telegraph his client was an American. He said he was “devastated” when he found out the lion was Cecil and reported the “mistake” to park authorities.
The Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force claimed the lion had been shot by a hunter from Spain. Spanish conservation group Chelui4lions called the killing “demented”.
Daily Mail