The Zimbabwe government said on Sunday that Dr Jan Seski, 68, of Murrysville, Pennsylvania, used a bow and arrow in April to kill a lion without approval, on land where such hunting was not allowed.
Advertisement
Zimbabwean authorities are now seeking extradition of Walter James Palmer, the dentist who killed Cecil, the black-maned treasure at the park.
Authorities have ordered the suspension of hunts targeting lions, leopards and elephants outside of Hwange National Park amid a broad investigation into hunting industry practices.
Bronkhorst says he and Palmer have not had any contact since the killing of Cecil the Lion has triggered a worldwide rage at their actions.
Zimbabwe has started legal proceedings to extradite Palmer from his home in Minnesota to answer charges connected with the lion slaying.
“I do not feel I have done anything wrong”.
Some hunting enthusiasts now coming to the defense of their sport, like Idaho woman Sabrina Corgatelli who posted several photos of her alongside her kill on safari, including a giraffe.
“Jan Seski contributed greatly to our wildlife management and costs of running our reserve as well as to the rural community that is dependent on us for their livelihoods”, Dorrington said in an email. “The landowner who helped him with the hunt also did not have a have a quota for lion hunting”.
Images of the doctor wearing camouflage and holding high-powered bows match those on Seski’s website, where he wears a suit or hospital scrubs.
He said he had to turn his phone off because of the amount of hate messages.
“He conducted his hunt in good faith and now he is being treated as if he is some criminal”, Sibanda said.
The hunt provoked worldwide outrage when it emerged that Cecil was a well-known attraction among visitors to the Hwange National Park and was wearing a tracking collar as part of an Oxford University research project. Over time it has been expanded and it now prohibits the import, export, sale, acquisition, or purchase of animals protected by U.S. or foreign laws.
The 68-year-old is the latest American doctor to find himself in the bull’s-eye of animal activists and government officials for his role in the controversial blood sport.
The new ban also comes after a petition launched earlier this year called for the airline to stop transporting exotic animal hunting trophies.
Advertisement
“The logic is that if you keep killing them, they will become endangered”, Menendez spokesman Steven Sandberg said, according to the Associated Press.
