Zimbabwe: American being sought for lion poaching

[webfact]

Zimbabwe: American being sought for lion poaching
By FARAI MUTSAKA

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwean police said Tuesday they are searching for an American who allegedly shot a well-known, protected lion known as Cecil with a crossbow in a killing that has outraged conservationists and others.

Authorities on Tuesday said two Zimbabwean men will appear in court for allegedly helping lure the lion outside of its protected area to kill it. The American faces poaching charges, according to police spokeswoman Charity Charamba.

The American allegedly paid $50,000 to hunt the lion, Zimbabwean conservationists said, though the hunter and is local partners maintain they didn't know the lion they killed was protected.

Walter James Palmer was identified on Tuesday by both the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force and the Safari Operators Association of Zimbabwe as the American hunter, a name that police then confirmed.

"We arrested two people and now we are looking for Palmer in connection with the same case," Charamba said.

Emmanuel Fundira, the president of the Safari Operators Association of Zimbabwe, said at a news conference that Palmer is from Minnesota and his current whereabouts were unknown.

Palmer issued a statement saying he was unaware that the lion was so well known and part of a study.

"I had no idea that the lion I took was a known, local favorite, was collared and part of a study until the end of the hunt," he said, maintaining that to his knowledge, everything about the hunt had been legal.

Attempts to reach Palmer, 55, at his two listed home numbers and his office by phone and in person were unsuccessful.

Palmer, an avid hunter, pleaded guilty in 2008 to making false statements to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service about a black bear he fatally shot in western Wisconsin outside of the authorized hunting zone, according to court documents.

The two arrested Zimbabwean men — a professional hunter and a farm owner — face poaching charges, the Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Authority and the Safari Operators Association said in a joint statement. Killing the lion was illegal because the farm owner did not have a hunting permit, the joint statement said. The lion was skinned and beheaded. The hunters tried to destroy the lion's collar, fitted with a tracking device, but failed, the statement said.

If convicted, the men face up to 15 years in prison.

The lion is believed to have been killed on July 1 in western Zimbabwe's wildlife-rich Hwange region, its carcass discovered days later by trackers, the statement said.

The Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force said in a statement that an American paid the $50,000 for the hunt. During a nighttime hunt, the men tied a dead animal to their car to lure the lion out of a national park, said Johnny Rodrigues, chairman of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force. The American is believed to have shot it with a crossbow, injuring the animal. The wounded lion was found 40 hours later, and shot dead with a gun, Rodrigues said in the statement.

"The saddest part of all is that now that Cecil is dead, the next lion in the hierarchy, Jericho will most likely kill all Cecil's cubs," said Rodrigues.

The Zimbabwean hunter accused in the case claimed that Cecil was not specifically targeted, and the group only learning after the fact that they had killed a well-known lion, according to the Safari Operators Association.

Cecil, recognizable by his black mane, was being studied by an Oxford University research program, the conservation group said.

Tourists regularly spotted his characteristic mane in the park over the last 13 years, said Lion Aid, also a conservation group.
___

Associated Press reporters Amy Forliti in Bloomington, Minnesota, and Brian Bakst in St. Paul, Minnesota, contributed to this report.


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-07-29

[OOLEEBER]

This guy is in deep poo poo now. I hope he gets what he deserves. Nobhead !!

[notbkk]

<deleted> savage! He and his Melissa Bachmann-like peers must all die a slow, agonising death by being hunted with poisoned arrows until death. He will be hunted down to his cosy dental surgery, tied to his dental chair and all his teeth drilled into the core roots by an African baboon.

[CrummyJuggler]

Hunting is a sorry sport. Does a real man put a dead animal on his truck to lure a lion out of a protected area, to shoot it with a crossbow, to have it suffer for another 40 hours, before shooting it with a gun? Does it give him a great feeling of accomplishment? All this for a story he can tell his friends about his lion hunting trip in Africa or a picture to post on his facebook page? What an a-hole. Hope he and his whole family dies in a car crash on the way home from the airport.

[Seastallion]

I have no problem with "hunting" in it's traditional form per se. But in my mind, luring an animal to you, to shoot it while it eats the bait, is not sport hunting. Fish in a barrel. That's not sport.

On top of that, hunting (the sport) should be about the larder, not just the kill.

And to top it off, this dastard wanted his bragging rights for "hunting a lion with a crossbow"...but really just wounded the animal to suffer for 40 hours and then killed it with a gun.

Zimbabwe markets sell "bush meat". If these "hunters' thought they were in the right, they would have taken their trophy, but on-sold the carcass....they did not.

I suspect US authorities will not cooperate with Zimbabwe on this matter. Pity.

[quandow]

This news has now gone beyond viral. I hope and pray he spends time in a dark, dank Zimbabwe gray-bar hotel.

Keep sharing this shame: Walter James Palmer

[Seastallion]

Hunting is a sorry sport. Does a real man put a dead animal on his truck to lure a lion out of a protected area, to shoot it with a crossbow, to have it suffer for another 40 hours, before shooting it with a gun? Does it give him a great feeling of accomplishment? All this for a story he can tell his friends about his lion hunting trip in Africa or a picture to post on his facebook page? What an a-hole. Hope he and his whole family dies in a car crash on the way home from the airport.

You're mainly right...but hunting in it's traditional form is indeed a challenge (and thus sport). I have hunted wild boar with a spear...hunt, track, outwit, outmanouvre, over-power...and then shared the meat. I've done it with a rifle, too. Either way, I say it's a challenge, and thus a sport. That I shared and ate the kill, in my mind makes the sport OK.

In my case, the spear occasions were not for the sport as such, but for the meat, and I had no ammunition. I would have much rather had the rifle. ...but it all was a challenge and thus it could be seen to be sport.

[Asiantravel]

I have no problem with "hunting" in it's traditional form per se. But in my mind, luring an animal to you, to shoot it while it eats the bait, is not sport hunting. Fish in a barrel. That's not sport.

On top of that, hunting (the sport) should be about the larder, not just the kill.

And to top it off, this dastard wanted his bragging rights for "hunting a lion with a crossbow"...but really just wounded the animal to suffer for 40 hours and then killed it with a gun.

Zimbabwe markets sell "bush meat". If these "hunters' thought they were in the right, they would have taken their trophy, but on-sold the carcass....they did not.

I suspect US authorities will not cooperate with Zimbabwe on this matter. Pity.

if you have no problem with hunting then let's have a subscriber TV reality show entitled " Hunting the Hunter " with all revenue payable to the conservationists. you know like the hunger games.

When his body is eventually found it can be disposed of by feeding it to the Lions

Edited July 29, 2015 by Asiantravel

[Old Croc]

Palmer is on the right:

[Andaman Al]

Palmer is on the right:

palmer.jpg

This is clearly a great example of having a small dick complex. Does he feel manly now?

[harada]

I say an eye for an eye, put him in an arena ( unarmed) with another lion and see how he goes.

[MrBrad]

Here's a link to Minnesota Public Radio's coverage:

http://www.mprnews.org/story/2015/07/28/cecil-the-lion

Edited July 29, 2015 by MrBrad

[ROGER DUNN]

This low down specimen of a human should have the same done to him.

If not put in jail for the rest of his natural life.

[Mudcrab]

Palmer is on the right:

palmer.jpg

Needs to get that horn seen to.

[Baerboxer]

Hunting is a sorry sport. Does a real man put a dead animal on his truck to lure a lion out of a protected area, to shoot it with a crossbow, to have it suffer for another 40 hours, before shooting it with a gun? Does it give him a great feeling of accomplishment? All this for a story he can tell his friends about his lion hunting trip in Africa or a picture to post on his facebook page? What an a-hole. Hope he and his whole family dies in a car crash on the way home from the airport.

You're mainly right...but hunting in it's traditional form is indeed a challenge (and thus sport). I have hunted wild boar with a spear...hunt, track, outwit, outmanouvre, over-power...and then shared the meat. I've done it with a rifle, too. Either way, I say it's a challenge, and thus a sport. That I shared and ate the kill, in my mind makes the sport OK.

In my case, the spear occasions were not for the sport as such, but for the meat, and I had no ammunition. I would have much rather had the rifle. ...but it all was a challenge and thus it could be seen to be sport.

Yeah a real challenge. You've got a rifle or spear and the boar hasn't. Very sporting. Don't take any chances now.

Love the way some people call killing animals a 'sport" as long as they eat some of them.

You did it because you enjoyed killing it yourself.

I really enjoy shooting - rifles, pistols, shotguns, crossbow, archery, in that order. But I shoot targets not live animals. I don't feel the need to kill, sometimes wound and make suffer animals as some do.

Now if someone declared legal open season on hunters, especially like this prick who shot the lion, then that would be "sporting".

[Rajab Al Zarahni]

How did they know it was called Cecil ?

[impulse]

Personally, I think it's prudent to separate the fact that the guy has a despicable hobby from the accusations that he did something illegal.

Imagine, for example, you go to a faraway place to purchase a rare stamp for your collection. You pay for the trip, you pay $50,000 to a reputable dealer for the stamp, and when you get home, you're accused of buying a stolen stamp.

Or, closer to home, you go into an above board bar in a tropical paradise, find an absolutely gorgeous hooker, transact a little business, and later find out you're a wanted man because, unknown to you, she was a trafficked woman.

So who broke the law, the stamp purchaser or the stamp dealer, the customer or the trafficking pimp, the hunter or the outfitter? I'd like to think we'd show a little empathy.

If there's any poetic justice, I hope the guy is barred for life from ever hunting any critter ever again, but that he doesn't end up in a Zimbabwe prison.

Edited July 29, 2015 by impulse

[samran]

Personally, I think it's prudent to separate the fact that the guy has a despicable hobby from the accusations that he did something illegal.

Imagine, for example, you go to a faraway place to purchase a rare stamp for your collection. You pay for the trip, you pay $50,000 to a reputable dealer for the stamp, and when you get home, you're accused of buying a stolen stamp.

Or, closer to home, you go into an above board bar in a tropical paradise, find an absolutely gorgeous hooker, transact a little business, and later find out you're a wanted man because, unknown to you, she was a trafficked woman.

So who broke the law, the stamp purchaser or the stamp dealer, the customer or the trafficking pimp, the hunter or the outfitter? I'd like to think we'd show a little empathy.

If there's any poetic justice, I hope the guy is barred for life from ever hunting any critter ever again, but that he doesn't end up in a Zimbabwe prison.

He's already got form shooting protected animals in the US.

[Lokie]

He said, I thought it was a legal official hunt... (yeah that would be why it was conducted around 22.00hrs just outside of the game reserve where the 13 year old Lion (a local animal celebraty) was lured from for the arranged kill... Money talks, looks like his business will now be well and truly affected and searves him right the spineless To$$ bag Hope the authorities deal out the fullest extent of the law covering illeagal poaching of protected animals