June 30, 2020 – The killing of Cecil the lion five years this week ago by an American trophy hunter in Zimbabwe triggered worldwide outrage. Father of a pride, lured with an elephant carcass, wounded by an arrow, he suffered for hours before being killed by gunshot. As it turned out, this was a shot heard around the world, giving momentum to global demand for an end to trophy killing of animals.

Cecil should not have been the victim of such wanton brutality. He was known and admired by tourists and wildlife photographers from around the world who came to Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park to observe him and other animals. He was also the subject of a long-term research study by scientists.

Sadly, however, Cecil’s fate was not unusual. Every year dozens of wild lions are killed by trophy hunters in range states. With as…