Hunting to restart as ‘vandals’ denounced

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe accused foreign ‘‘vandals’’ yesterday of pillaging Zimbabwe’s wildlife as his government lifted the ban on big game hunting that was imposed after Cecil the lion was killed last month.

In his first public comments about the killing of Cecil by an American dentist, Mugabe also accused Zimbabweans of failing to protect the lion.

‘‘All the natural resources [of Zimbabwe] are yours, even Cecil the lion is yours,’’ he said in a rambling address on a holiday to honour the fallen in the country’s war against white minority rule. ‘‘He is dead, but yours to protect, and you failed to protect him.

‘‘There are vandals who come from all over . . . to irregularly and illegally acquire part of those resources,’’ he added.

Mugabe’s remarks were greeted with some surprise, since the entrance to his official residence, State House, in Harare is guarded by two stuffed lionesses, their jaws in fixed snarls.

Observers estimate that they have been there for about 20 years – a gift from Seretse Khama, the late former leader of neighbouring Botswana.

Mugabe has taken little or no interest in wildlife in his 35 years of rule, except in the 1990s when he allowed game rangers to adopt a ‘‘shoot-to-kill’’ strategy against rhino poachers.

He has been asked repeatedly by conservation groups to raise the issue of rhino poaching in Zimbabwe with the Chinese Government, with little sign that he has ever said anything.

China and other countries in the Far East are the biggest consumers of rhino horn, prizing it as a cure for a wide range of ailments, although it is of the same constituents as fingernails.

The national parks authority announced yesterday that it was lifting a week-long ban on hunting imposed on designated hunting areas around Hwange national park following the uproar over the killing of Cecil.

The lion was shot on July 1 after being lured out of the park by Theo Bronkhorst, a Zimbabwean professional hunter, and his American client, Walter Palmer.

Bronkhorst and the landowner on whose game ranch the lion was shot with a bow and arrow have appeared in court accused of failing to prevent an illegal hunt, and the government has said it intends to apply for Palmer’s extradition from the United States.

In yesterday’s announcement the wildlife authority also imposed restrictions on the hunting of lions, elephants and leopards.

The animals can now be shot only with the written approval of the head of the authority, and each hunt has to be accompanied by a member of park staff.

The authority said it would place life bans on anyone found guilty of illegal hunting.