Guide: Palmer wanted elephant
Bronkhorst, the guide, says that after killing Cedric, Palmer wanted to hunt an elephant:
We then went back to my place near Hwange. The client asked if we would find him an elephant [whose tusk weighs] larger than 63 pounds, which is a very large elephant, but I told him I would not be able to find one so big, so the client left the next day and went to Bulawayo for the night and then flew out [to Johannesburg] midday the following day.
He also describes the events of Cedric’s hunt:
We set off quite late, with the sun down, and found the carcass of an elephant which we dragged and moved into the long grass and used for bait,” he said. “We then established the ‘tree blind’ [a camouflaged hide made of tree branches and grass]…Once we were established, and it was quiet, we first saw a lioness go past. And then a huge male – Cecil – came into view behind her. He was a magnificent animal…The client then fired using a bow and arrow, and it went away into the long grass. This was about 10 pm…We found it and it was wounded, and the client then shot it, with his bow and arrow, and killed it
He says the hunting party was “devastated” to discover that Cecil was wearing a GPS collar. But instead of turning it in to authorities, Bronkhorst says he panicked, taking the tracking device off and putting it in a tree.
I wish I had taken the collar.