‘Cecil didn’t die for a reason. He died for a cause,” says Johnny Rodrigues, chair of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force.
Five months after Zimbabwe’s most famous lion was found skinned and headless on the edge of Hwange National Park, the killers have not been convicted. In October, the Zimbabwean government dropped charges against Walter Palmer, the Minnesotan dentist who paid £35,000 to hunt the lion. Meanwhile the trial of Theo Bronkhurst, the professional hunter who led the expedition, is ongoing.
The global outcry that ensued was unprecedented. Last month, a new anti-poaching bill was passed by the US House of Representatives. A week later, the French government announced a ban on the import of lion trophies, with UK ministers threatening the same.
“It’s thanks to all the animal-lovers that believe these laws should be changed Without them, nothing would happen,” says Rodrigues,
Professor David Whyte Macdonald, founder and director of Oxford University’s Wildlife Conservation Unit (WildCru), sounds similarly grateful. The death of Cecil has rescued its conservation project in Hwange, which depends almost entirely on donations; before July, it was in £150,000 debt. It is one of the largest projects of its kind in the world, and in the last 16 years it has tagged more than 200 lions – including Cecil – and used the information gathered to inform conservation strategies, run anti-poaching patrols and educate local communities.
After news of Cecil’s death emerged, 4.4 million people visited and “melted” its website; more than $1m was donated to the project, securing its future for three years.The money is being used to further analyse the issue, continue the employment of a dozen people working in the field, pay the costs of vehicles and equipment and fund courses at Oxford university for three new Zimbabwean biologists.
“For me, this was a very tragic and heartbreaking episode but it was also an exhiliratingly optimistic moment,” says Macdonald.
Happily, Cecil’s offspring have fared well. Although reports initially emerged that both his cubs and “brother” (who was part of the same coalition rather than part of his bloodline) had died, researchers say they are alive – Cecil’s grand-cubs are now on the way.
