The Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force charity said in a Facebook post it been informed that Cecil’s brother had been shot dead at this afternoon in Hwange National Park.
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Cecil, a favourite with global tourists, was killed on July 1 this year by Walter James Palmer, an American trophy hunter who parted with US$50,000 to get him.
Jericho the lion, brother of murdered lion Cecil, has been killed today in Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe.
“It has become necessary that the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority further tightens hunting regulations in all areas outside the Parks Estate”, Edson Chidziya, director general of Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority, said in an e-mailed statement on Saturday.
An investigation has been launched into the killing of another lion last month, and a man has been arrested over this case according to officials.
A representative for the SATIB Trust (Hwange Lion Research Project) or The Zambezi Society did not immediately respond to a request for comment. USA Today also reported Jericho recently had been seen protecting Cecil’s orphaned cubs. The group’s Facebook page said he had been shot and killed at 4 p.m. “We are absolutely heart broken”, the message said.
Palmer, who is being investigated by the US government over Cecil’s death, has apologised and said he was misled by Bronkhorst.
Now estimated at under 35,000 individuals, Africa’s lion population has plunged by more than 90 percent since the 1950s primarily due to habitat loss, conflict humans, and hunting.
Dr Palmer maintains what he did was legal, and has hired a public relations firm to help handle the fallout over his hunt.
Two Zimbabweans, a professional hunter and a private farm owner, accused of involvement in Palmer’s hunt, appeared in court Tuesday for illegal poaching.
He said: “When I heard that report, I had a look on the computer and his movements seem regular”.
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Likewise, parks authorities in Zimbabwe have obliged by banning the use of bows to hunt for wild creatures. Meanwhile, dentist Walter Palmer is reportedly on the run after his practice was overrun (and destroyed) by protesters.
