She said Palmer would be sought on charges of financing an illegal hunt and for violation of Section 123 of the Parks and Wildlife Act, which controls the use of bows and arrows in hunting.
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“Unfortunately it was too late to apprehend the foreign poacher as he had already absconded to his country of origin”, Oppah Muchinguri, Zimbabwe’s environment, water and climate minister, told a news conference, according to the Associated Press. The hunter who accompanied him told the The Daily Telegraph the pair had been “devastated” when they realised Cecil was wearing a radio collar because he was part of an academic study by Oxford University.
“They (U.S. courts) may actually doubt the competence of the judiciary here to try him in an objective manner particularly given these prejudicial pronouncements that the politicians are already making”, said Muchadehama. “So it wasn’t his intention to kill such a famous lion”, he said. Nor has Zimbabwe extradited anyone to the United States, said the official, who was not authorized to address the issue by name and spoke on condition of anonymity.
“You see many people putting the lives of human beings behind the lives of animals, and that’s a scary proposition for anybody”, Pinizzotto said.
Zimbabwean officials have asked the U.S. top extradite Palmer there to answer for his actions.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service has also opened an investigation into the killing of Cecil.
Zimbabwe’s environmental minister says the nation has started the extradition proceedings and hopes the U.S. will cooperate.
Zimbabwe had an estimated 2,000 lions on private and government-owned reserves and issued hunting quotas of 50-70 lions every year, he added.
Authorities seeking Palmer’s extradition have described him as an accomplice to the illegal hunt. If convicted, Bronkhorst faces up to 15 years of time in prison. To lure this lion out of the park?
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“It is with huge disgust and sadness that we have just been informed that Jericho, Cecil’s brother has been killed at 4pm today”, the task force said on Facebook on Saturday. He says, “We believe the cubs are still out there in the bush”.
