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Zimbabwean operator says American hunter didn’t break law

A Zimbabwe conservation group says it wants the head of Cecil the Lion to be mounted in a case in Hwange National Park, where he was killed last month.

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People across the world believe he is Dr. Walter James Palmer, who is the Minnesota dentist who did kill Cecil the Lion.

“We understand that concerns have been raised about Dr. Seski’s activities in Africa, appreciate the sensitivities of those issues and will continue to monitor the situation appropriately”, the company said in a statement.

Seski, 68, a gynecologic oncologist who directs the Center for Bloodless Medicine and Surgery at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, is also a big-game hunter, according to safari outfitters and bow-hunting sites.

Wildlife officials named the American as Jan Casimir Seski, who allegedly shot the rare beast in another illegal hunt. She added that following the poaching incidents, it has become necessary for the government to further tighten hunting regulations in all areas outside the Hwange National Park.

News of the killing of the 13-year-old lion was met with global outcry and public protests outside the dental practice owned by Mr Palmer.

The two other men involved in the hunt which led to Cecil’s death are facing charges in Zimbabwe. Palmer said guides told him the hunt was legal.

Brent Stapelkamp, a field researcher at Hwange Lion Research has claimed that Jericho looks alive as per his knowledge. “I don’t think that I’ve done anything wrong”, Bronkhorst said. Until now, around 50 lions were killed per year in Zimbabwe by hunters, a number that was higher before reforms to the industry in 2013, reports the Telegraph.

In a statement made late Wednesday, the club said Palmer and Bronkhorst’s memberships will be “on hiatus until investigations are complete”. “I’ve never seen him do anything illegal or unsportsmanlike at all”.

The National Parks authority gave little information on the new case, but said on Sunday that the killing of the lion had taken place without a permit.

The Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force reports that Cecil’s brother, Jericho, was also shot and killed in an illegal hunt.

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“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. “Every thing he did was completely authorized and aboveboard and a fantastic assist to our conservation efforts”.

Illegal lion hunt: Zimbabwe alleges second American involved in incident