After the senseless death of Cecil the Lion, the world has showed renewed interest in the consequences of poaching. On Saturday, Zimbabwe issued an indefinite ban on big game hunting in the area outside the park where Cecil was lured and killed. Meanwhile, dentist Walter Palmer is reportedly on the run after his practice was overrun (and destroyed) by protesters. Now the fate of Cecil’s brother, Jericho, hangs in the balance.
On Saturday, CNN reported that Jericho was killed by poachers in Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park. The report says Jericho (a protected animal) was shot by an illegal hunter, according to Johnny Rodrigues, head of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force. CNN links up a Facebook post from the Task Force in their story:
“It is with huge disgust and sadness that we have just been informed that Jericho, Cecil’s brother has been killed at 4pm today,” the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force said Saturday on Facebook.
“We are absolutely heart broken,” the Task Force said.
Jericho was considered to be caring for and defending Cecil’s cubs, but the survivability of those cubs wasn’t immediately clear in the aftermath of Jericho’s death.
Immediately following the CNN report, Reuters Africa issued a statement saying Jericho may be alright. A field researcher named Brent Stapelkamp stated, “He looks alive and well to me as far as I can tell.” Jericho’s GPS tag indicated that he’s still “moving around as usual.” We’ll update this story if more developments arise.
(via CNN, Reuters, & Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force)