Accusations are swirling, but let’s tease these complicated strands apart.
1. It is completely legal to bait lions in Zimbabwe – it is standard practice. Cecil was shot with a bow and arrow from a blind. That is also legal. Cecil was shot badly and was only put out of his misery 40 hours later. That is what happens regularly in trophy hunting.
2. Cecil was shot outside a national park in a private hunting concession. That is also legal. It is not illegal to kill radiocollared lions.
3. But Cecil was shot in an area not assigned a lion quota. Supposedly the bait was set for a leopard and then Cecil came along. The professional hunter, Theo Bronkhorst told his client to shoot the lion, and then the hunt became illegal.
4. The professional hunter then allegedly attempted to destroy the radiocollar to hide the evidence. Allegedly the client was “furious” when he found that the lion was radiocollared. Allegedly, when a professional hunter engages a client in an area without lion quota, the lion will be listed as hunted in an area that does have quota. This could have been standard practice, but unfortunately Cecil was a well-known lion.
5. The professional hunter and the concession owner are now being investigated. Both were allegedly arrested and released on bail. Bronkhorst has been suspended from the Zimbabwe Professional Hunters and Guides Association. He will likely abscond rather than face trial unless he is confident of the possible bribes he has paid to an entirely corrupt judiciary. The concession owner is allegedly related to the Zimbabwe Minister of Transport and will therefore be immune from prosecution.
6. There seems now to be a desire to find the “client” who shot Cecil. Some say he is Spanish, some say he is American. Whatever his nationality, this man cannot really be prosecuted. A client does what his professional hunter tells him. A client usually has no idea about the laws and regulations of the country he is hunting in – he just buys a safari and then places himself in the hands of his professional hunter guide. Finding the client could be interesting to let him tell his side of the story, but in terms of legal prosecution this person is hardly important.
7. The hunt is also on to find what remains of Cecil. That is strange, as a hunting trophy should be immediately identifiable?
8. There are calls to prevent the import of Cecil’s trophy into the EU. That will be difficult unless the name of the client gets known. Also, it is almost impossible to distinguish a single lion trophy from all the others yearly imported into the EU from Zimbabwe.
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