For many of us cruelty to animals is incomprehensible and the recent skinning and murder of one Africa’s most famous lions will have you questioning the humanity of those responsible.
The headless body of Cecil, the 13-year-old star attraction of Zimbabwe’s Hwange national park, was found earlier this month and it is believed he had been lured out of the park, where it would have been illegal to hunt him, using a freshly killed animal as bait – a common technique among hunters can “legally” kill protected lions.
The last movements of the lion were tracked by a GPS collar that was fitted earlier by an Oxford University research team which lead authorities to believe Cecil was shot by a bow and arrow and then tracked for two days before being shot by a rifle.
The iconic big cat’s head and hide were believed to be taken as trophies.
Two people have reportedly been arrested in connection with the killing but Zimbabwean authorities are now hunting a Spaniard accused of paying more than €50,000 ($75,000 AUD) to murder the animal.
“What hunter, what sort of demented person, would want to kill a magnificent adult lion, known to and photographed by all the park’s visitors?” said Luis Muñoz, spokesperson for Spanish conservation group, Chelui4lions.
Muñoz told The Guardian: “We’re ashamed of the fact that in Spain there are rich madmen who pay for the pleasure of killing wild animals such as lions.”
Zimbabwean police are seeking the lion’s remains among the country’s taxidermists.
Muñoz and his group are lobbying Spanish authorities to ban the import of endangered species to prevent Cecil’s head from being brought into the country as a trophy.
“From 2007 to 2012 Spain was the country that imported the most lion trophies from South Africa. During this period it imported 450 heads, compared to 100 in Germany. Europe needs to ban these lion hunting trophies altogether,” said Muñoz.
Johnny Rodriguez, head of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, told The Guardian Cecil’s death represented national heartbreak for the nation and further threatened its protected lion population.
“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,” Rodriguez said.
Cecil was known for his relaxed demeanour around tourists and his death has caused outrage in Zimbabwe.
