via Reports conflict on whether Cecil the lion’s brother, Jericho, also killed – Nehanda Radio Aug 2, 2015 by Michael Martinez and Deborah Bloom
Conflicting reports emerged on whether Jericho, the brother of slain Cecil the lion, was also killed Saturday in an illegal hunt in Zimbabwe.
Johnny Rodrigues, head of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, told CNN that a hunter illegally gunned down Jericho in Hwange National Park.
The task force also reported on its Facebook page that Jericho was killed at 4 p.m. local time.
Later, however, an Oxford University researcher tracking Jericho told CNN that the lion was alive and moving as of 8 p.m. local time Saturday, based on the GPS data from the animal’s collar.
The GPS device didn’t suggest that Jericho was killed or that anything was out of the ordinary, said Brent Stapelkamp, a field researcher who is part of a team tracking Jericho in Zimbabwe.
“We are seeking to clarify conflicting reports,” an Oxford spokesperson said.
Other government officials weren’t immediately available for comment.
At a minimum, the conflict over Jericho added to the angst in the wake of Cecil’s killing, which provoked an international outrage because he was a protected animal. Zimbabwe is seeking the extradition of American dentist Walter Palmer on accusations that he and others illegally hunted the lion, authorities said.
The Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force was emphatic on its Facebook page when it declared Jericho dead.
“It is with huge disgust and sadness that we have just been informed that Jericho, Cecil’s brother has been killed at 4pm today,” the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force said.
“We are absolutely heart broken,” the Task Force added on the Facebook posting.
Jericho was considered to be caring for and defending Cecil’s cubs, but the survivability of those cubs seemed imperiled if Jericho had indeed been killed.
Some of the cubs may have been Jericho’s, said David Macdonald, director of Oxford’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, who has been studying Cecil.
Male coalitions, often between brothers, oversee prides of females in lion society and protect them from threats posed by outsider male lions, the scientist said.
But if Jericho were killed, the cubs’ chance for survival “is probably gone,” said Dave Salmoni, an apex predator expert for Animal Planet.
Jericho’s death would seal “the fate of these cubs, for sure,” Salmoni told CNN.
Cecil, killed in early July, mated with about six lionesses and had about 24 cubs, Rodrigues has said. CNN
COMMENTS
Johnny boy get your facts right , you are the cause of a lot of miss information , and making a mountain out of a mole hill .
Don’t be unkind Bambazonke – Johnny was given incorrect information from people whom he believed to be reliable. He has already apologised.
Whats so special about Cecil. Is it the first lion to be shot. People should be sceaming about job loses created by the judges. Ingani umuntu uyafa. How many Zimbabwean new about Cecil. How many baby elephants have been exported to China. People were quite about it as if nothing has happened. Dead or Alive Cecil cannot be compared to job loses.
While the killing of Cecil is very sad and a terrible loss, it should be noted that hunting in Zimbabwe is not illegal provided the correct and valid permits are in place.
A few observations:
I give the American Dentist the benefit of the doubt, he surely paid a sum of money to hunt a lion and was trusting those that he dealt with and paid to secure the required permits etc.
Hunting has always been an emotive issue, however Zimbabwe has or had one of the best systems in place for controlled hunting with conservation in mind, Zimbabwe has some of the best professional hunter/guides in Africa.
Before this American Dentist is tried and convicted by the general public, I would suggest they wait and see, let the facts come out, this could be a case of two dishonest people namely the Zimbabwean land owner and a local professional hunter taking this Americans money as quick as they could to secure their services, I find it hard to believe that an American would travel to the other side of the world to illegally hunt a tagged lion and in Zimbabwe to boot, a place known by the rest of the world that has a political system that despises the Western world, surely that was a huge risk.
You readers decide