Exposing the Big Game

Forget Hunters' Feeble Rationalizations and Trust Your Gut Feelings: Making Sport of Killing Is Not Healthy Human Behavior

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Tag Archives: Cecil the lion

Zimbabwe drops charges against hunter who helped American dentist kill Cecil the lion

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http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/zimbabwe-drops-case-local-helped-kill-cecil-lion-article-1.2868925

BY
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Friday, November 11, 2016,
Charges against the hunder who helped Walter Palmer (pictured) kill Cecil the lion have been dropped.

Charges against the hunder who helped Walter Palmer (pictured) kill Cecil the lion have been dropped.

(facebook)

Zimbabwe has dropped charges against the local hunter who alleged helped an American dentist slaughter the nation’s most beloved lion.

Theo Bronkhorst — accused to aiding Minnesota native Walter Palmer when he gunned down Cecil the lion during a July 2015 hunting trip — was cleared of charges, his lawyer announced Friday.

Despite international outcry about the killing of the rare black-maned lion, Palmer had legal authority to hunt outside Hwange National Park, Zimbabwean authorities said.

So instead, they slapped Bronkhorst, who guided Palmer on his trip, with charges of failing to prevent an unlawful hunt.

Boat of Minn. dentist who killed Cecil the lion stolen from home

Cecil's death sparked international outcry.

Cecil’s death sparked international outcry.

(New York Daily News)

The local hunting trip leader’s lawyers petitioned the High Court in Zimbabwe’s second city of Bulawayo to set aside the charge, arguing it was it was not an illegal hunt because Palmer had the proper permit.

“The court granted us that prayer yesterday — that the charges be quashed,” said Lovemore Muvhiringi, a lawyer for Bronkhorst, adding that it’s unlikely that the state will re-file charges against the local hunter.

Palmer, traveling with Bronkhorst, took down Cecil last summer. The animal had been fitted with a collar to track his movements but strayed outside the confines of Hwange National Park and was then shot.

NORTH AMERICA OUT; AP PROVIDES ACCESS TO THIS HANDOUT PHOTO TO BE USED SOLELY TO ILLUSTRATE NEWS REPORTING OR COMMENTARY ON THE FACTS OR EVENTS DEPICTED IN THIS IMAGE. THIS IMAGE MAY BE USED ONLY FOR 14 DAYS FROM THE TIME OF TRANSMISSION; NO ARCHIVING; NO

Cecil the lion was killed in July 2015.

(Paula French/AP)

Bronkhorst was accused of setting bait to lure Cecil out of the park. Palmer said at the time that no one in his hunting party realized the targeted lion was Cecil, a beloved symbol of the park and the country.

Typical pr bs: Trophy hunting of lions can conserve the species, report suggests

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https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/09/160922124408.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fplants_animals%2Fanimals+%28Animals+News+–+ScienceDaily%29

Sure.
Date:
September 22, 2016
Source:
University of Kent
Summary:
Trophy hunters can play an important role in lion conservation, researchers have shown. These findings may surprise the public, but most lion conservationists think trophy hunting could play a key role in conserving this species because lions need large areas to thrive, and managing this land is expensive. The new work shows land under long-term management for trophy hunting can help fill this shortfall.
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The findings of this report may surprise the public, but most lion conservationists think trophy hunting could play a key role in conserving this species because lions need large areas to thrive, and managing this land is expensive. Their work shows land under long-term management for trophy hunting can help fill this shortfall.
Credit: © Vasilev Evgenii / Fotolia

One year after the worldwide controversy when an American dentist killed Cecil the Lion in Zimbabwe, the DICE team says hunting works but only when hunting companies are given long-term land management rights.

Dr Henry Brink and Dr Bob Smith from DICE (the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology), and Professor Nigel Leader-Williams from the University of Cambridge’s Department of Geography, studied lion population trends in Tanzania’s Selous Game Reserve.

This protected area is divided into blocks in which hunting rights are allocated to different companies. Their study showed that blocks under short-term allocation were over-hunted. In contrast, lion trophy hunting levels were sustainable in blocks owned by the same company for 10 years or more, thereby also maintaining important habitat for this threatened species.

Dr Brink said DICE’s research shows that those who have secured long-term use rights to natural resources are more likely to manage them sustainably. This is an important lesson for lion conservation, as loss of habitat means this species is increasingly restricted to protected areas.

Dr Smith added that their findings may surprise the public, but most lion conservationists think trophy hunting could play a key role in conserving this species because lions need large areas to thrive, and managing this land is expensive. Their work shows land under long-term management for trophy hunting can help fill this shortfall.

This research also supports calls to change the hunting fee system in Tanzania. Nigel Leader-Williams explained that at present, the government sells hunting block fees cheaply, and raises more by setting high quotas and high fees for each trophy animal shot, which encourages those who are only allocated blocks over the short-term to shoot more lions, at the expense of long-term sustainability and profits. Increasing block fees, reducing trophy fees and reducing the hunting quota could bring in the same tax revenue, while reducing the temptation of hunters to over-use lions.

Man steals, crashes boat belonging to hunter who killed Cecil the lion

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http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/police-man-steals-crashes-boat-belonging-to-hunter-who-killed-cecil-the-lion/ar-BBuDdDW?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartandhp

8 / 21

USA TODAY
Alexi C. Cardona3 hrs ago
In this undated photo provided by the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Cecil the lion rests in Hwange National Park in Hwange, Zimbabwe.© Andy Loveridge, AP In this undated photo provided by the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Cecil the lion rests in Hwange National Park in Hwange, Zimbabwe. NAPLES, Fla. — A stolen boat that crashed off of Marco Island in the Gulf of Mexico last weekend belongs to the Minnesota dentist who sparked international fury after killing Cecil the lion last summer at a national park in Africa, police said.

Andrew Derwin, 26, of Marco Island was arrested Tuesday on a felony grand theft charge. Police said he stole and crashed a boat belonging to Walter Palmer off Caxambas Pass on the southern end of Marco Island.

Officials initially were called to reports of a boat crash at the Caxambas Park Marina on Sunday afternoon.

Marco Island Fire Rescue and Collier County EMS performed first aid on a passenger, Nicolas Stolinas, who suffered serious injuries when struck by the vessel’s propeller.

Police said they soon learned the boat had been stolen and was registered to Palmer.

Derwin, Palmer’s neighbor, took the keys to the boat from the rear lanai of Palmer’s home Sunday, according to Marco Island police.

A woman who watches over Palmer’s house told officials the Minnesota dentist left the keys on the lanai for a boat maintenance person to service the vessel. Palmer was supposed to let the woman know when to take the boat keys back inside the house.

The boat is valued at $61,175.

Collier County Sheriff’s Office arrest records state Derwin has been arrested 13 times on various charges, including driving under the influence, forgery…

More: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/police-man-steals-crashes-boat-belonging-to-hunter-who-killed-cecil-the-lion/ar-BBuDdDW?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartandhp

Las Vegas Rally for Cecil

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https://www.facebook.com/events/1632268670349705/

Join the Las Vegas Rally For Cecil and speak out against evil trophy hunting!

The Las Vegas Rally For Cecil will also feature demonstrations to be held at the Mandalay Bay on every day that Safari Club International is in town.

We anticipate protest times to be: Feb 3, 4 & 5: 6-7:30 Feb 6 (Worldwide Rally For Cecil): 10-12 We will finalize the times of our protests and the Rally in January.

Posters and literature will be provided. If you choose to make your own, please do not use violent or aggressive language. These will be peaceful, educational demonstrations focused on raising public awareness.

Worldwide Rally for Cecil Day in Santa Fe New Mexico

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Worldwide Rally for Cecil Day in Santa Fe New Mexico
February 6th at 11:00am.  Lasts until 2:00pm.
At the Roundhouse/statehouse, at the entrance by the corner of Paseo De Peralta and old Santa Fe Trail.
We are trying to help Mountain Lions in New Mexico while also honoring and remembering Cecil.
By reminding our NM government leaders that a civilized society does not condone trophy hunting nor trapping.  Please show your support.
You can share invitations easily from our event’s Facebook page, at this link: https://www.facebook.com/events/1541114956212489/
David Forjan
Creative Director
The Animal News Hour

Decision to declare lions endangered comes just months after the death of ‘Cecil the Lion’

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Theo-Bronkhorst-Cecil-lion-Zimbabwe2

“If hunting is part of a conservation strategy, then it’s part of a failing strategy,” said Dan Ashe, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, on a conference call for journalists. The rule is “not reacting to Cecil specifically or any other incident specific, but rather an overwhelming body of science that says that lions are threatened.”

Hefty fees paid in the by hunters of big game like lions ostensibly help fund conservation efforts. But some wildlife experts question whether the policies have been effective as implemented. Lion populations have declined by 43% during the last 20 years, according to the FWS.

The endangered listing comes along with a number of new policies, including new permit requirements for hunters hoping to import trophies from lion hunts. The agency said it will only issue permits in accordance with science on how best to conserve lion species. The rules also give the FWS authority to deny permits to anyone previously found guilty of violating wildlife laws.

The decision drew immediate praise from animal rights activists who have been working for more than four years to list African lions as endangered. Wayne Pacelle, CEO of the U.S. Humane Society, described the new rule as “one of the most consequential” from the FWS in years. “This listing decision…is likely to dramatically change the equation for American trophy hunters who have been killing lions by the hundreds each year for their parts,” he said in a statement.

Zimbabwe man who helped U.S. dentist kill Cecil the Lion arrested on new wildlife smuggling charges

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http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/african-hunter-helped-kill-cecil-lion-arrested-article-1.2361421

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.

NORTH AMERICA OUT; AP PROVIDES ACCESS TO THIS HANDOUT PHOTO TO BE USED SOLELY TO ILLUSTRATE NEWS REPORTING OR COMMENTARY ON THE FACTS OR EVENTS DEPICTED IN THIS IMAGE. THIS IMAGE MAY BE USED ONLY FOR 14 DAYS FROM THE TIME OF TRANSMISSION; NO ARCHIVING; NOPaula 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.

Hundreds of wild animals to be slaughtered in Limpopo, South Africa

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/southafrica/11848103/Hundreds-of-wild-animals-to-be-slaughtered-in-Limpopo-South-Africa.html

 

New hunting controversy – two months after Cecil the lion was shot – which will see animals shot from specially erected platforms rekindles debate on big game hunting

In what is known as a “driven hunt”, the animals will be corralled into a two kilometre (1.2 mile) stretch of land close to the town of Alldays

In what is known as a “driven hunt”, the animals will be corralled into a two kilometre (1.2 mile) stretch of land close to the town of Alldays Photo: Alamy

By Peta Thornycroft and Stuart Graham in Johannesburg

7:16PM BST 07 Sep 2015

Animal welfare groups in South Africa on Monday failed to prevent the opening of a week-long “driven hunt”, in which foreign hunters pay to shoot wildlife that is herded past them for easy dispatch.

More than 20 Belgian and Dutch hunters took part in the hunt on a farm near the town of Alldays, in the northern province of Limpopo.

Taking aim from purpose-built platforms overlooking a bush strip, hunters are able to shoot at hundreds of wild animals including baboons, warthogs and antelope as they pass.

Just two months after the global furore surrounding the slaughter of Cecil the lion in Zimbabwe, the hunt has rekindled controversy over the killing of wildlife for sport.

Cecil greets one of the lionesses in the Linkwasha Camp, within the Hwange National Park Cecil greets one of the lionesses in the Linkwasha Camp, within the Hwange National Park   Photo: Brent Staplecamp

Such was the anger over the death of Cecil, who was being tracked by Oxford University as part of a research project, that the hunter – Walter Palmer, a dentist from Bloomington, Minnesota – was forced into hiding, emerging only this week to make a public statement.

The National Council of SPCAs, the South African animal welfare group, appealed for the driven hunt to be stopped.

Ainsley Hay, the group’s manager of wildlife protection, said that it was trying to obtain a warrant to prevent the hunt from the magistrates court in the town of Louis Trichardt.

“Our team is trying to get the warrant, but the hunters are there already and the shooting is about to start,” she said.

Later reports said 18 animals were killed on Monday.

She said an indigenous community in the area had claimed the land and was renting it out to “individuals” who were hosting the hunt as a way of earning income.

“They have built platforms that line the bush for the hunters to stand on and have employed locals to walk in a straight line beating metal drums to chase the animals into the slaughter strip.

“The hunters then take pot shots at the animals. The animals have no chance of evading the onslaught and the hunters have no way of ensuring a clean shot or a humane death.

“From past hunts like these we have seen that much of the kill can’t be eaten or used as trophies because the dead animals are so full of bullets.”

The hunt, at Braam Farm outside Alldays, is due to last for one week. Hundreds of animals could be killed each day.

Hermann Meyeridricks, president of the Professional Hunters’ Association of South Africa, said he did not have enough information about the hunt to comment.

“There is a media frenzy around hunting at present and we don’t know enough about this this kind of hunting, which has been going on for centuries in Europe.

“I have no mandate to investigate activities of citizens of this country.”

More: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/southafrica/11848103/Hundreds-of-wild-animals-to-be-slaughtered-in-Limpopo-South-Africa.html

Dentist Walter Palmer Returns to Work With Police Escort Amid Cecil the Lion Protests

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http://abcnews.go.com/US/dentist-walter-palmer-returns-work-police-escort-amid/story?id=33602439

Sep 8, 2015, 10:21 AM ET
By

Palmer returned to his dental clinic in Bloomington, Minnesota, with a police escort at around 7 a.m. today.

US Dentist Who Killed Cecil the Lion Set to Return to Work
What Happened in the Harrowing Hours Before Cecil the Lion Was Killed

A few protesters gathered outside his office and yelled “Extradite Palmer,” saying he should face punishment in Zimbabwe.

The dentist was named in late July as the hunter who killed Cecil, a lion that had been fitted with a GPS collar as part of research for Oxford University. Palmer has said he did not know he was killing a beloved animal when he followed his hunting party guide, and he believed he acted legally. The 13-year-old Cecil was the biggest dominant male black-maned lion in Hwange National Park in Hwange, Zimbabwe.

Today, Bloomington Police Deputy Chief Mike Hartley said police will keep a presence at Palmer’s office for as long as they are needed, mostly to manage blocking off the street for media. There were about 10 officers on the premises this morning. Hartley said he is not concerned for Palmer’s safety at this point, and Palmer has employed his own security.

Zimbabwean authorities have reportedly paused an effort to extradite Palmer due to possible fears that doing so would hurt Zimbabwe’s hunting business, the Associated Press reported. The Zimbabwean professional hunter who helped Palmer was charged with “failure to prevent an illegal hunt,” while the man whose property on which the killing took place faces a charge of allowing the hunt to occur on his farm without proper authority. They allegedly lured the lion out of the national park with an animal carcass.

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Comparative Psychological Criminal Profile of Walter Palmer and Robert Hansen

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Although one never saw the light of day again (former bakery-shop owner Hansen died in an Alaskan prison in 2014) and one may never see the inside of a courtroom, there are numerous similarities between serial killer/trophy hunter Robert Hansen and dentist/trophy hunter Walter Palmer:

  • Both were family men, well-liked and successful in small business
  • Both were avid sport hunters (though thus far Dr. Palmer‘s chosen “trophies” were taken only from the legal, non-human side of the imaginary great divide that separates worthy life forms from fair “game.”)
  • Both “sportsmen” Walter Palmer and Robert Hansen enjoyed the challenge of bow hunting (presumably to prolong the agony for their prey)
  • Both needed to constantly to refresh their “trophies” in an obsessive effort to boost their flagging self-esteems (after all, how much macho pride can be derived from being a baker…or a dentist?)
  • Both serial killers objectified and thought nothing of the lives or the suffering of their many innocent victims, whom they failed to recognize as vastly superior in intrinsic value
  • Conversely, perhaps they did recognize their value and envied them for it
  • When accused, neither apologized to those whom their crimes affected, but instead cared only of how the accusations affected them
  • Both were narcissistic psychopaths
  • Both deserve whatever punishment they got or eventually get

Whether or not he broke enough hunting laws to warrant extradition back to Zimbabwe for a trial is all that seems to matter to Dr. Palmer. The fact that Cecil had a name and a radio tracking collar didn’t help the doctor’s legal case. But as with any psychopathic serial killer, his overwhelming sense of entitlement keeps him from seeing the fundamental wrong in his murderous ways.

 

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