The issue arose when officials in Zimbabwe charged that Minnesota dentist Walter James Palmer had killed a lion, which Zimbabweans had regarded as an icon of their country, to the point that they had named him.
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The false reports about Jericho the Lion’s death, which came in the heels of the killing of his companion Cecil the Lion in early July, ignited more anger from the public.
There has been a suspension of all hunting of lions, leopards and elephants in areas outside of Hwange National Park, and the government is “directing all those now in the field to stop their hunting activities and withdraw”. The latest accusations emerged during the inquiry, Zimbabwe’s Parks and Wildlife Management Authority said.
Jericho the Lion as also been referred to as Cecil’s brother, but Wildlife Conservation Research Unit director David Macdonald said the two lions are not related by blood.
Another hunter, who feared that hunting in Zimbabwe was now on its last legs, said: “Some of us have been through the data in connection with the hunt in which Palmer was involved, and it all looks okay according to the present legislation”.
“It seemed to me everything he does is aboveboard”, Hahn said.
Referring to Palmer as a “foreign poacher”, Environment Minister Oppah Muchinguri said last week that Palmer should be handed over to Zimbabwean officials to face justice.
Jan Casimir Seski of Murrysville, Pennsylvania, is accused of shooting a lion near Hwange National Park with a bow and arrow in April.
Mr Rodrigues said the initial plan had been for Cecil’s head to be sent to South Africa, then shipped to the US for Mr Palmer.
He said that hunters had accused him of taking money from hunts, a claim he denied. Oxford University researchers said Sunday that Jericho was alive and well, and was roaming his territory in the national park.
But the guide, Theo Bronkhorst, told AFP on Friday that they had “shot an old male lion that I believed was past his breeding age…”
My husband Roy and I stayed there. We have had many, many death threats.’.
As for having the proper paperwork to conduct the hunt, “We had done everything above board”, he said. But legal experts say the case may be hard to prosecute because the law has rarely, if ever, applied to hunters who do not import parts of the animals they kill.
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“Since Cecil’s illegal death, David Macdonald, Andy Loveridge and the WildCRU team have worked tirelessly to turn this tragedy into an historic moment for the conservation of the lion…the big cat that is “disappearing in plain sight”.
