Poachers Murder Jericho, Cecil the Lion’s Brother, Leaving Cubs Without Protection
It’s one tragedy after another for Zimbabwe’s precious lions. You may recall that a neighborhood favorite, Cecil, was murdered by a Minnesota dentist who shuttered his office and is on the run after Zimbabwe asked for his extradition. Cecil’s brother, Jericho, was protecting the cubs from wandering males when he was shot to death by poachers.
From The Daily News:
BY MELISSA CHAN
Cecil the lion’s brother Jericho has been shot dead in Zimbabwe by illegal hunters, officials said Saturday.
“It is with huge disgust and sadness that we have just been informed that Jericho, Cecil’s brother has been killed at 4pm today,” Johnny Rodrigues, head of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, said in a statement. “We are absolutely heartbroken.”
The uncle of the slain lion king’s young cubs had been protecting the pride in Hwange National Park after Cecil was slaughtered by American dentist Walter Palmer earlier this month.
“I’m very gutted, I’m very disappointed, I’m heartbroken. It’s just too much,” Rodrigues told USA Today.
No further details of Jericho’s death were immediately available.
It leaves Cecil’s handful of cubs vulnerable to danger without a watchful guardian. They were alive and well as of Friday, Zimbabwe’s Director of National Parks and Wildlife Edson Chidziya said.
The wildlife group did not immediately comment on the latest tragedy to hit the lion pride.
Saturday’s sick slaying comes as Zimbabwean wildlife authorities announced the suspension of hunting lions, leopards and elephants where Cecil was killed.
The 13-year-old king of the jungle was lured out of his protected park by Palmer and local tour guides who tied a dead animal to their vehicle.
The wanted dentist — the most hated hunter in the world — paid a reported $50,000 to hunt the regal lion, who was wearing a GPS collar as part of a research project run by Oxford University.
Palmer then allegedly shot Cecil, who was considered a famed local tourist attraction, with an arrow.
The wounded animal suffered for 40 hours before its hunters finally shot him with a bullet.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
The stories are conflicting right now about jericho. His GPS is supposedly still letting them track him, so it may have been another lion, still does not make it better that these magnificent creatures are being stalked and murdered for trophies.
True. I hope the stories are wrong.
Dude that put the collar on Cecil, apparently changed out Jericho’s collar beginning of this month since his wasn’t working properly and they have tracked him as far as dude can tell.
I hope you’re right and it’s starting to look that way. Jericho needs to be alive to protect Cecil’s cubs.
Oh no! Oh no! How does this happen? I’m heartbroken.