Jericho the lion is alive: Zimbabwe
Jericho the lion, who was feared dead, is well and alive. In fact, he is roaming in his Zimbabwe park habitat, a researcher at Oxford University confirmed after tracking the lion on Sunday.
The wildlife authorities of Zimbabwe have denied Jericho became the second lion to fall prey to hunting within a month. The news took force as Cecil, the park's most famous lion, was shot dead by an American dentist in July. Brent Stapelkamp, who tracked the movement of the lion, confirmed that he is still alive as GPS device on Jericho does not indicate anything out of the ordinary. “The lion known as Jericho is still alive and being monitored by Stapelkamp of the Lion Research Project,” a statement from the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority said.
Johnny Rodrigues, the head of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, said the information on the death of Jericho was the result of mistaken identity. It was some other lion who was killed but was thought to be Jericho. To prove the statement, Oxford University tweeted the photo of Jericho that was photographed on early Sunday morning by Stapelkamp.
The death of the famous lion Cecil outside the Hwange Park made the news as the rumoured death of Jericho take pace in the global media. However, the Hwange Trust authorities requested the public to take ZCTF’s announcement seriously that denied the rumours of the lion’s death. Palmer, a Minnesota dentist, shot Cecil to death with bow and arrow in early July. He reportedly paid US$50,000 [AU$68,500] for the hunt.
Theo Bronkhorst, Palmer’s guide, claimed he did nothing wrong, whereas Palmer apologised for his deed and blamed his guide for misleading him. Bronkhorst was charged with the allegations of “failing to prevent an illegal hunt” this week, but he told AFP on Friday that they “shot an old male lion that I believed was past his breeding age ... I don’t think that I’ve done anything wrong.” He is due to stand trial on August 5, while a petition to have Palmer extradited to Zimbabwe has quickly surpassed 100,000 signatures.
Cecil’s giant image was projected to the Empire State Building in New York this Saturday. Palmer has been called “the most hated man in America” by U.S. talk show hosted Jimmy Kimmel.
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