News

The upcoming 10th anniversary of the repulsive killing of Cecil the lion.

On July 1st 2015 Walter Palmer, a dentist from Minnesota USA made an attempt to trophy hunt a very well known lion called Cecil just outside Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe. Palmer chose to use a compound bow from a hide and succeeded to wound Cecil, who ran off into the night. The hunting party, including professional hunter Theo Bronkhorst, went back to camp. Cecil was found the next morning, after suffering for over 12 hours. Cecil was then killed with a rifle.

Cecil was 13 years old, and a major tourist attraction in Hwange. He was also part of a lion research programme in the national park run by Oxford University’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WILDCRU). Cecil was wearing a radio collar when he was shot by Palmer. After death, Cecil was beheaded and possibly skinned. An attempt was made to destroy the radio collar and when this failed the still transmitting collar was moved kilometres away to prevent the researchers from finding the carcass. 

As the news came out, the killing of Cecil generated revulsion across the world, and Palmer had to go into hiding in the US. He received death threats and hate messages. His dental practice and website closed as protestors gathered in numbers. Other pertinent facts are these:

•    Because of the high level of media attention and the negative reporting about the killing of Cecil, significantly fewer hunters came to Zimbabwe in the months that followed.
•    Five months after the killing of Cecil, the US Fish and Wildlife Service added lions in India and West and Central Africa to their endangered species list, making it more difficult for United States citizens to kill lions legally on safaris.
•    Initial charges against Theo Bronkhorst and the owner of the land where Cecil was killed, Honest Ndlovu, were dropped and Palmer was not charged.
•    On 1 August 2015, in response to Cecil's killing, the hunting of lions, leopards and elephants along with all bow-hunting was immediately suspended in areas outside of Hwange National Park by Zimbabwe's environment minister, Opa Muchinguri, who said, "All such hunts will only be conducted if confirmed and authorized in writing by the Director-general of the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, and only if accompanied by parks staff whose costs will be met by the landowner". The moratorium was lifted after 10 days.
•    Palmer's companions allegedly dragged the carcass of an elephant killed earlier in the week to roughly 300 metres from the park to bait Cecil out of the protected area. Of all adult male lions that were tagged inside the park by WILDCRU, 72% were killed through sport hunting on areas near the park. 
•    Global media and social media reaction resulted in close to 1.2 million people signing an online petition "Justice for Cecil", which asked Zimbabwe’s government to stop issuing hunting permits for endangered animals. The government ignored this. 

It is highly important to keep the memory of Cecil alive. From 2015 to 2023, Zimbabwe exported a further 356 lions and their parts under the trophy category, either as “trophies”, “skins” or “skulls” according to the CITES database. Doubtless many were killed with the same disregard of ethics and disrespect of animal welfare as exemplified by Cecil. 

On July 2, an event will be held in the UK Parliament to remember the cruel killing of Cecil and to encourage Members of Parliament to maintain pressure to pass a Bill banning the import of hunting trophies into the UK. 

We on the LionAid board would ask to assist such efforts by signing this petition on change.org. We already have over 888,000 signatures, but would like to bring this to 1 MILLION. Such a number cannot be ignored by politicians.

So --- if you have not yet signed this petition, please do so. If you have already signed, please urge your friends and social media followers to do so as well. If you have an X account, please put out the word, similarly if you have other platforms you use.

LET’S GET THE PETITION TO 1 MILLION!

Thank you, and let’s work together to put a stop to the repulsive practice of trophy hunting!

Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons.

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