Zimbabwe

Zimbabwean authorities are trying to find the hunter who killed Cecil. The 13-year old lion was found headless after being shot with a bow and arrow. Hunters then tracked the dying animal for 40 hours before they killed it with a rifle. Bait, in the form of a freshly killed animal, was used to tempt Cecil out of the park, a technique commonly used so that hunters can “legally” kill protected lions.

Cecil’s death is a tragedy, not only because he was a symbol of Zimbabwe but because now we have to give up for dead his six cubs, as a new male won’t allow them to live so as to encourage Cecil’s three females to mate. The two people who accompanied the hunter have been arrested but we haven’t yet tracked down the hunter, who is Spanish.