Cecil killing: the untold story File picture of Cecil the lion

Prosper Ndlovu
WILDLIFE farmers in the Gwayi Conservancy in Matabeleland North are not happy.

The on-going international hullabaloo over the killing of Cecil, the world’s most famous lion, by an American tourist, Walter Palmer, on July 1 at a game farm, has failed to tell the whole story, they say.

While British and American top media organisations condemned Palmer, a dentist from Minnesota, for taking down Cecil after paying $50,000 for the hunt, farmers say the true story has been “deliberately sidelined.

Everybody has said things and the world has been given a “misleading” view, the farmers protested.

“The real story is that this was an illegal hunt as stipulated procedure wasn’t followed,” Russel Mark, the chairman of the Gwayi Valley Wildlife Farmers Association, said.

He said normal procedure was that whenever a hunt is conducted, one applies to the farmers’ association through the Parks and Wildlife Authority and if approved, scouts or guides will be given to assist.

“No farmer can conduct a hunt without approval by the association and this particular hunt was never sanctioned. It’s clear poaching and we don’t know about it,” said Russel.

“We’ve 34 wildlife farms here and this committee manages and controls hunting activities. So far this year no lion hunting quota has been issued. We wonder how this man (Palmer) was granted the approval without our involvement. We want justice to be done because this is giving the country a bad image.”

Many believe the lion, a focal point of the research projects by Oxford University, was named after Cecil John Rhodes, the celebrated fore-runner of British colonialism in Southern Africa who had a stint at Oxford in 1873.

Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko has waded into the issue, calling on the National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority to ensure the survival of six cubs sired by Cecil.

Langton Masunda, one of the prominent wildlife farmers in the area, said Cecil’s death goes beyond the legality of the hunt and Palmer as an individual.

He said the whole incident was a thorn in the flesh for wildlife farmers in the area adding that it was unfortunate that Palmer had become a victim of circumstances.

“As farmers we see this as blatant poaching and disrespect of the country’s laws. It’s common knowledge to hunters and operators that details of the hunt, age and trophy signs are documented for scientific research. In his case all the required procedures weren’t followed,” said Masunda.

“Palmer was misled by an operator and a professional hunter who is well versed with correct procedures because of greed. We’ll soon institute legal proceedings to recover $30,000 compensatory value of the lion since it was shot in the area of our jurisdiction and not in a national park as we’re made to believe.”

Professional hunter Theodro Bronkhorst, 52, and Trymore Ndlovu, owner of Antoinette Farm on the edges of Hwange National Park, have since been arrested for their role in the bow and arrow killing of the iconic lion.

Environment, Water and Climate Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, on Friday said Palmer was being sought for extradition to Zimbabwe to face prosecution.

Masunda said Zimbabweans and the world deserve to be told the real story by the affected people in the Gwayi area who stand to lose more from an adulterated version of issues.

He said the outcry over Cecil was being fuelled by “fake, opportunistic conservationists who want to gain cheap mileage in the comfort of their offices”.

“It’s unfortunate that an incident of poaching has gone political. People who aren’t conversant with conservation are expressing misguided opinion on a straightforward case.

“The real conservationists are on the ground, busy doing anti-poaching, supplying water to game, making fireguards and not getting recognition or funding from the so called international lobbyists,” said Masunda.

He said the whole international media outcry bordered around a calculated conspiracy to tarnish the country’s tourism image and discredit Zimbabweans as competent wildlife and environment conservationists.

“To cripple the country’s economy you need to negatively market a particular economic sector. This has grossly affected tourist arrivals and is crippling the economy.

“It’s common knowledge that at around 20,000, our elephant population exceeds carrying capacity. Yet these lobbyists successfully campaigned for the banning of ivory exports to America knowing pretty well that the US constituted 79 percent of the hunting clientele,” said Masunda.

Such reportage, he went on, is responsible for the human-animal conflict.

Masunda said when communities and wildlife farmers do not derive value from the animals they conserve, fail to pay their workers or supply water to the wild game, they are left with no option.

“The killing of Cecil is a symptom of economic hardships in the sector where the farmer or operator who is facing difficulties attempted to take a shortcut,” he said.

Masunda said it was ironic that the Gwayi Conservancy had a self imposed seven-year moratorium on hunting for conservation purposes since 2004 but has never made a headline.

“Instead we were slapped with sanctions as a country. The lion population in Gwayi is known by its farmers who are qualified to comment about the incident and not these lobbyists,” he said.

“Further, the people who benefit from the data collected from these collared lions are not Zimbabweans who are custodians of this resource but Oxford University.”

Masunda said the noise made by the international media was a form of “mourning for Western vested interests because the research on Cecil was benefiting them and not the owners of the resource”.

He urged the government to consider the research permits it gives to foreign research companies to ensure that interests of local communities are protected.

“By right foreigners should get this research information from our own learning institutions. The NGOs calling themselves conservationists must be investigated for treason in the sense that all the negative marketing they do borders around jeopardising the national economy,” said Masunda.

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