Professional hunter Theodore Bronkhorst, who helped in the killing of Cecil the lion, has been arrested by Zimbabwean authorities for allegedly smuggling antelopes.
A professional hunter in Zimbabwe who helped an American dentist kill a well-known lion named Cecil has now been arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle sable antelopes into South Africa, Zimbabwean police said Tuesday.
Theo Bronkhorst, a Zimbabwean, is in police custody in the southern city of Bulawayo following his arrest a day earlier and will appear Wednesday in a court in Beitbridge, a town on the border with South Africa, police spokeswoman Charity Charamba said.
Police and Zimbabwe National Parks officials also caught three South African men after the vehicles carrying the sables got stuck along the Limpopo River which marks Zimbabwe’s border with South Africa, the Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority said in a statement.
“Bronkhorst will be charged for trying to move wild animals without a permit. He faces an additional charge of being an accomplice in a smuggling racket involving the sables,” Charamba told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
The scheme involved trying to smuggle 29 sables worth $384,000 into South Africa, according to the parks authority.
Paula French/AP
Cecil the Lion was killed in July.
The South Africans had no capture and translocation permits authorizing them to move the sables — seven males, 16 females and six calves — from a private sanctuary in Zimbabwe to a private conservancy in South Africa, the parks authority said.
Bronkhorst had been out on bail after being charged for the allegedly illegal hunt of Cecil by dentist James Walter in July.
He is due to go on trial in that case on Sept. 28. Authorities say Cecil was lured out of a national park with an animal carcass before he was shot.
The lion’s death sparked an international outcry, prompting some airlines to ban the transport of parts of lions and other animals killed by hunters.
Exposing the Big Game 
Same story, same song:
“They’re pictures he never wanted anyone to see – Palmer and a 550-pound black bear he killed while bow hunting in Wisconsin 9 years ago. Palmer along with 10 hunters, and dogs, tracked the injured bear for three hours, needing three arrows to kill the animal. Palmer had a hunting permit. Just one problem — it was for a different zone.”
http://www.fox9.com/web/kmsp/news/19925713-story
You notice he says the same thing, the false concern about his wife and family when contacted by Fish & Wildlife. It’s too bad he didn’t have any concern for his wife when he was trying to play grab-ass with his dental receptionist.
Not enough, the killer is still loose in US!