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Leonard Ncube Victoria Falls Reporter
POLICE have arrested a second wildlife farmer on allegations that he connived with an American hunter to kill a lion in April.

Headman Sibanda, 55, the managing director of Nyala Safaris in Gwayi, who also owns Railway Farm 31, where the lion was killed, was arrested on Monday.

The lion whose trophy and skin were reportedly recovered in Bulawayo, was shot using a bow and arrow by an American medical doctor, Jan Casimir Seski.

Acting police spokesperson for Matabeleland North Province, Assistant Inspector Mandlenkosi Ndlovu, said Sibanda was in police custody assisting them with investigations.

“We’re holding a man in connection with the killing of a lion. The suspect was arrested on Monday and is helping police with investigations,” he said.

Asst Insp Ndlovu said Sibanda, of Selborne Park in Bulawayo, was in police custody in Victoria Falls and was likely to appear in court today on charges of permitting a person who is not resident in Zimbabwe to hunt.

The charge is a violation of the Parks and Wildlife Act as read with Section 4 (b) of Statutory Instrument 26 of 1998.

Sibanda had no hunting quota for lion, according to the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority.

He allegedly contracted a Kariba-based professional hunter, John Zvinashe, who illegally hunted the lion with a client, Seski.

The American allegedly used a bow and arrow to kill the lion, a method similar to that employed by another American hunter, Walter James Palmer, a dentist who killed Cecil the Lion early last month.

Seski, 68, is a medical doctor from Murrysville, Pennsylvania, where he is a member of the Alaska Bow Hunting Society.

Sibanda’s arrest becomes the third after that of professional hunter, Theodro Bronkhorst and Antoinette Farm owner, Trymore Honest Ndlovu last week. Bronkhorst was charged last week for failing to prevent an illegal hunt which resulted in the killing of Cecil the Lion.

Meanwhile, Bronkhorst returns to court today for the commencement of his trial.

He was last week released on $1,000 bail while Ndlovu is yet to appear in court.

No decision has been made yet on Seski but the government is seeking the extradition of Palmer for shooting the prized 13-year-old Cecil after its killing sparked outrage in the Western media.

This comes at a time when the government has ordered a suspension of bow and arrow hunting and banning the hunting of lions, leopards and elephant around Hwange National Park.