American Dentist kills Endangered Lion in Zimbabwe.

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I live on [and subsequently watch over] a natural preserve. I watch out for any threat to the local critters (the nearby road being the main thing I have no say over). I'll take out any feral animals (biggest threat to the local critters), for example. Not pretty work, but it works.

I also pay money for the local waterhole to be stocked with native fish (some of which are threatened; one is endangered). I don't fish it.

I do what I can.

So all Zimbabeans are corrupt??????

In response to your questions.

You can bait for animals but the national parks are protected areas, no hunting allowed of any kind, and allowing animals to be lured off of this area obviously means that the protected status is not valid.

Of the three people involved, there is Palmer, a professional hunter/guide, Theo Bronkhorst and the land owner, Honest Ndlovu. None of these three people held a permit to hunt a lion.

Mr Bronkhorst has been at a press conference after being bailed, in which he confessed to the killing. Palmer, through a representative has also confessed to the act.

The GPS tracker device was removed from the animal and an attempt was made to hide it. Obviously it would be a sealed unit and not easily turned off or destroyed. The tracking history would show where the lion is and has been, it's behaviour and type of movement after being wounded would differ from that of normal. The location and point in time that the behaviour changed was on the land of Mr Ndlovu.

Once the abnormal behaviour was noted, whether by coincidence or design in the system, the anti-poacher squad were sent the appropriate location.

No parts of the animal was actually removed from the bush, the trophies were dumped to enable an escape from the anti-poaching squad that were already in pursuit.

Hope that clears up some of the unknowns for you.

Not bothered about internet lynchings myself, just concerned with reality. Conservation as a business works much better than just asking nicely not to hunt the cute wild animals.

Last edited by neilson_wheels on 04 Aug 2015, 3:35 am, edited 2 times in total.

Awesome, but that was aimed more at those who are all wrapped around the axle over that one lion. I was wondering if any of them are actively involved in animal welfare.

No, but I'd trust them about as much as an official from North Korea. So, with plenty of doubt (as much as a hunter that was previously caught poaching).

Still plenty of questions there, but the admission of guilt was expected for the picture to be put together so clearly.

Kind of an [extremely] amateur job if they intended to get away with it, really (they must have thought they would have if they didn't have the required paperwork).

Yeah.

If everyone upset over such sent an appropriate amount of funds to whomever runs those things ($1000 to whatever people think counts based on their wage; I could scrape up $1000 quickly for something important, and I'm poor), lions wouldn't be threatened/endangered anymore.

Which is one of those ironic things.

What irony! Man is the most dangerous predator that ever walked the steppes, foothills, floated atop the seas, climbed the trees or mountains of this planet. You talking about a lion like it's a danger when compared to mankind is laughable at the least, a lie at the most. The lion is not the danger here. It's the human.

The only way you will make a dent in any of this is an all out ban on big game hunting. This will deter the poachers. If you just let the "legal" big game hunters in, you still send out the message it's okay to kill in order to profit from body parts, no matter how small a number an animal's population is, and most are much, much smaller than the human population. The ivory poachers will show up en masse if they know the big game hunters can profit and they are not allowed, but if you send a strong message, none of it will be tolerated for any reason, it will help deter the poachers who just want to butcher several animals at once all in the hope of harvesting their body parts.

I saw an article on some news website concerning the arrest of an African-American autistic 17-year-old boy (man?) somewhere in NYC. That lead me to an African-American website, and on that website, the posters were complaining that more attention was being given to a shot lion over the shooting of black men.

So sad people don't have more respect for nature and animals, especially endangered wildlife.

Instead of complaining about "more attention is being paid to a lion," wouldn't it seem like the obvious antidote is to simply pay attention to the story about the 17 year old? Think, if everyone who complained about the lion getting attention simply paid it to the story about the boy, that story would get the attention you feel it deserves. Right?

I did read on one site that the intended target for the bait was a Leopard. He still took the shot, possibly not even knowing what he was firing at.

It was an African based news website, and have not seen it reported anywhere else, so you probably wouldn't trust that, would you?

I'm afraid this does not work. It actually drives the prices paid up to higher levels which encourages the poachers and unregulated hunting.

It will work. You must show a strong, united front. Poachers will exploit any weakness. If they see big game hunters taking trophies home, they will feel vindicated taking body parts, like tusks, from elephants. United front against all of it is the only way to change hearts and minds.

It would need much more than a united front. It's basically impossible to enforce without a massive investment of money.

The areas to be policed are vast and the countries involved do not have the money to pay for it. Banning an specific item or action always results in a premium price increase. Compare it to the "War on Drugs" making drugs illegal does not produce the desired result of no addicts and all the crime and misery that goes with it.

I think it's important to remember that there have been at least 24 other cases of Lions being lured from protected National parks this year. It is only that Cecil was so well known that this case has become international news. Most poaching is carried out for the Chinese and other asian markets, where body parts are used for the manufacture of "magic potions" in traditional medicine.

I donate to various animal organizations. I live in an apartment with a patio and keep out food and water for the squirrels, chipmunks and birds. I also plant bushes and plants that birds and hummingbirds like. The idea of volunteering to work with animals has given me an idea. I had read somewhere that if you work at the humane society, you have to participate in the euthanasia but maybe that is employee not volunteer.

Um......poaching IS an illegal activity. Making big game hunting illegal, which is NEVER going to happen, would only make what is now legal hunting a black market activity (for lack of a better term) and do nothing to curb poaching in it's present form.