7/21/2017 Researchers mourn killing of Cecil the lion's cub - Times of India

Printed from

Researchers mourn killing of Cecil the lion's cub

AFP | Jul 21, 2017, 05.29 PM IST

JOHANNESBURG: A trophy hunter in Zimbabwe has shot dead a cub of

Cecil the lion whose death in 2015 caused worldwide outrage,
researchers tracking the pride conrmed Friday.

Xanda, a six-year-old lion tted with a radio collar, was killed on July 7 in
northwest Zimbabwe, close to where US dentist Walter Palmer shot Cecil
with a high-powered bow and arrow two years ago.

"Xanda was shot by a trophy hunter on a legally sanctioned hunt in a

hunting area outside Hwange National Park," Andrew Loveridge from
Oxford University's zoology department told AFP.

"As researchers we are saddened to lose a well-known study animal we have monitored since birth."

In 2015, Cecil's killing triggered erce controversy as he was a popular attraction for visitors to the famed Hwange National
Park.

Both Cecil and Xanda wore electronic GPS tracking collars in a project run by Oxford University's wildlife conservation research
unit. But they had strayed out of the park boundaries and into a legal hunting area.

The trophy hunter has not been named, but many hunters are from the United States or South Africa, paying tens of thousands
of dollars for the opportunity to kill lions and other wild animals.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/researchers-mourn-killing-of-cecil-the-lions-cub/articleshowprint/59700277.cms 1/2
7/21/2017 Researchers mourn killing of Cecil the lion's cub - Times of India

Pro-hunt groups say hunting provides an essential economic incentive to promote long-term conservation and that the income
pays to safeguard wildlife and catch poachers.

Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper named the hunt's professional expedition leader as Zimbabwean Richard Cooke, and said
that the hunt was legal as Xanda was six years old.

It added that Cooke had handed in the collar after discovering it on the dead animal, who was the head of the pride with two
lionesses and several cubs.

Palmer, who shot Cecil, a 13-year-old male, was hounded on social media and went into hiding after demonstrations outside his
dental practice.

He was reported to have paid $55,000 for the hunt.

No charges were brought against Palmer or the local guide as the hunt was also found to be legal.

Scientists, who say that Hwange has a healthy population of about 550 lions, are pushing for a 5-km (3-mile) hunting exclusion
zone to protect lions who wander outside the park's boundaries.

Cecil had at least 12 surviving cubs last year, according to the Oxford research project.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/researchers-mourn-killing-of-cecil-the-lions-cub/articleshowprint/59700277.cms 2/2