Zimbabwe authorities said the hunters also tried to destroy Cecil’s collar to hide the evidence.
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Currently, the U.S. does not have an extradition treaty with the African nation, but if the Wildlife service finds evidence of wrongdoing, it will pass its findings to the Department of Justice and potentially try him in the USA. They’ve seen trophy hunting like Palmer’s – promoted as a way of raising cash to preserve wildlife populations – fail to live up to its promise.
Official figures detailing export permits to the UK show that between 2010 and 2013 three skins, seven skulls and 16 “trophies” arrived in the UK, says conservation charity LionAid. It cites estimates suggesting there are barely more than 30,000 lions across Africa and “localized or regionalized extinctions in the next decade are a real possibility”. Unprotected, the lionesses and cubs would then be under threat and also move away or be killed.
The news follows furor over the death of Cecil, a beloved lion who was illegally killed by Minnesota dentist Walter Palmer earlier this month.
“We had done everything above board”, he said.
On Saturday, wildlife authorities said they had suspended the hunting of lions, leopards and elephants in the area where Cecil was killed.
At a minimum, the conflict over Jericho added to the angst in the wake of Cecil’s killing, which provoked an global outrage because he was a protected animal.
The head of Zimbabwe’s Safari Operators Association, Emmanuel Fundira, said the new restrictions would hit earnings from hunting, which generated $45 million in 2014. Wildlife authorities said it was necessary to tighten hunting regulations following Cecil’s death, and they hope this incident raises awareness to the country’s regulations.
A Zimbabwean landowner, Headman Sibanda, was arrested is assisting police in the Seski scase, the wildlife authority said.
Palmer has said he relied on his professional guides to ensure the hunt was legal.
National Parks spokeswoman Caroline Washaya Moyo said Seski had provided his name and other identifying information for a government database when he came for the hunt.
Furthermore, the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, which told CNN and other media Saturday that poachers had killed Jericho, retracted those statements on Sunday.
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Stephen Long, who also works for Bhejane Trust and lives in the western end of the Hwange national park, far from where Jericho holds territory, said in an email: “ZCTF has the same level of credibility as the National Enquirer”.
