Cecil the lion’s son gunned down by hunter two years after dad was killed in same park
THE son of Cecil the lion has been shot dead by a big game hunter two years after his father suffered the same fate.
Six-year-old Xanda was killed after he strayed outside a game reserve in Zimbabwe. Cecil was targeted in the same area in 2015, sparking a global outcry.
Authorities were able to identify Xanda, believed to be Cecil’s oldest cub, as he had an electronic tag. The hunter who killed him has not been named but conservationists said the killing was lawful.
Cecil, 12, was shot with a bow and arrow and finished off with a rifle after straying out of the lion sanctuary at Hwange National Park in north-west Zimbabwe.
He was wearing a collar and was part of an Oxford University research project – as was Xanda. Cecil’s killer, US dentist Walter Palmer, was forced into hiding after images of him posing with previous trophy big game kills went viral on the internet, causing international outrage. However, charges against him were withdrawn as – like Xanda – Cecil was killed outside the National Park, where hunting is legal.
It was reported yesterday that Xanda, who fathered several cubs, was shot about a mile outside the boundary of the park by an expedition led by professional hunter Richard Cooke, who runs RC Safaris.
He found the tag on the body and handed it to researchers, the Daily Telegraph reported. Andrew Loveridge, a member of the Oxford University research team, was quoted as saying: ‘I fitted it last October.
‘It was monitored almost daily and we were aware that Xanda and his pride was spending a lot of time out of the park in the last six months, but there is not much we can do about that. Richard Cooke is one of the “good” guys. He is ethical and he returned the collar and communicated what had happened. His hunt was legal and Xanda was over six years old so it is all within the stipulated regulations.’
Dr Loveridge told the Guardian: ‘Xanda was one of these gorgeous Kalahari lions, with a big mane, big body, beautiful condition – a lovely animal. I think it is sad that anyone wants to shoot a lion, but there are people who will pay money to do that.’
He added: ‘I’ve had a look at the GPS collar data and it all seems to be as [Cooke] says.’
Dr Loveridge said he hoped a three-mile exclusion zone could be set up around Hwange National Park to stop hunters accidentally killing monitored lions that strayed outside park boundaries.