Zimbabwean authorities hunt Spaniard accused of killing Cecil the lion

European allegedly paid €50,000 for chance to kill tourist attraction, who was found headless after being shot with a bow and arrow and tracked for 40 hours

Stephen Burgen in Barcelona

Sunday 26 July 2015 12.01 BSTLast modified on Monday 27 July 201500.30 BST

Authorities in Zimbabwe are trying track down a Spaniard who allegedly paid park guides €50,000 (£35,000) for the chance to kill Cecil, one of Africa’s most famous lions, who was the star attraction at the Hwange national park. The creature was found skinned and headless on the outskirts of the park.

The 13-year-old lion was wearing a GPS collar as part of a research project that Oxford University has been running since 1999, making it possible to trace its last movements when it was tricked into leaving the park and shot with a bow and arrow. The hunters then tracked the dying animal for 40 hours before they killed it with a rifle.

Bait, in the form of a freshly killed animal, was used to tempt Cecil out of the park, a technique commonly used so that hunters can “legally” kill protected lions.

“Cecil’s death is a tragedy, not only because he was a symbol of Zimbabwe but because now we have to give up for dead his six cubs, as a new male won’t allow them to live so as to encourage Cecil’s three females to mate,” said Johnny Rodrigues, head of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force. “The two people who accompanied the hunter have been arrested but we haven’t yet tracked down the hunter, who is Spanish.”

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Zimbabwe’s presidential elephants under threat

April 2014: The fallout over a land claim in the Hwange National Park has seen one of the country’s top elephant protectors stepping aside and shutting down a key elephant conservation project.

The Zimbabwe ‘Presidential Elephant Conservation Project’ was founded and has been run by Australian Sharon Pincott since 2001, with the aim of monitoring and protecting the Presidential Elephant Herd. This unique herd of wild elephants are protected by a Presidential decree that took place in 1990 when President Robert Mugabe ruled that the 400 plus elephants that roam the unfenced land outside the reserve should never be culled or hunted. In 2011, Pincott successfully lobbied Robert Mugabe to re-pledge his support for the elephant herd. This was in the face of land invasions, poaching and other threats to Zimbabwe’s elephant population.

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Hwange elephant poisoning update - Death toll reaches 300 elephants

Largest elephant poisoning on record

Octobber 2013. Since the original discovery of 41 elephant carcasses in Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park the number of dead elephants has been rising steadily. According to the latest reports in The Telegraph, the death toll has now reached a horrific 300 elephants, making this the worst mass killing of elephants in Southern Africa for many decades.

Many vultures are also known to have died as well as lions and hyenas that had fed on the elephant carcasses. Other species such as bufalo and kudu are known to have been killed by the poison as well.

Initially the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force (ZCTF) stated that the number of elephants poisoned by cyanide in Hwange National Park had risen to 100 carcasses. Several of the poachers have already received 15 year sentences and have received fines of between $200,000 & $600,000. National Parks and Wildlife Authority believe these sentences will be a deterrent to would be poachers. Some ivory has been recovered and it is believed that more has been shipped to South Africa where the tusks will either be shipped to Asia or sold in one of the notorious ivory markets.

Water holes not yet tested

The most frightening part of this is that although all the water holes have not yet been tested for cyanide, it is known that at least 2 were contaminated. This means that any animal that drinks from these water holes will die and any carnivores that feed on the carcasses will also die.

ZCTF are expecting the death toll to keep rising.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/hwange-elephants.html

Hwange elephant poisoning update - Death toll now 81 elephants

Largest elephant poisoning on record

September 2013. Since the original discovery of 41 elephant carcasses in Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park last week, a further 40 carcasses have now been discovered in what is believed to be the worst mass poisoning of elephants on record. Zimbabwe's Minister for Tourism, Walter Mzembi, visited the site of the massacre in Hwange National Park and announced that the death toll had now reached 81 elephants, and a large amount of smaller game, and that it was still possible that more would be found.

Zimbabwe Government officials have (again) vowed to crackdown on poaching.

It is highly likely that more wildlife, especially scavengers, will have eaten some of the carcasses will have died in addition to the elephants over a much more wisdespread area, and the full extent of the damage may never be known.

More arrests

Five Zimbabwean nationals were originally arrested in connection with the use of cyanide in Hwange National Park, and reports now indicate three more people have been arrested. Ivory, cyanide and a leopard skin were all recovered from the alleged poachers.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/hwange-elephants.html

Zimbabwe poachers jailed 15 years for elephant poisoning

Harare (AFP) - A Zimbabwe court on Wednesday sentenced three poachers to at least 15 years in prison each for poisoning and killing 81 elephants, state radio reported.

A provincial magistrate sentenced 25-year-old Diyane Tshuma to 16 years in prison for poisoning elephants with cyanide at in Hwange National Park, in the west of Zimbabwe, Spot FM reported.

His co-accused Robert Maphosa, 42, and Thabani Zondo, 24, were each sentenced to 15 years.

"The parks and wildlife management authority has hailed the sentences saying they will be a deterrent to would-be poachers," Spot FM reported.

Tshuma was ordered to pay $600,000 (440,000 euro) to the Zimbabwe Wildlife and Parks Authority for killing the animals, while Zondo must pay $200,000 by the end of the year.

Elephant's tusks are highly sought after for Asia's ivory trade.

The three were among nine people arrested on suspicion of poisoning watering holes in the game park.

However, Jerry Gotora, chairman of the Zimbabwe parks department board of directors on Tuesday said the poison had been "put at places where elephants graze, not in water".

Two years ago nine elephants, five lions and two buffalo died from cyanide poisoning in Hwange National Park.

Just 50 rangers patrol the 14,650-square kilometre (5,660-square mile) park, and wildlife authorities say 10 times that number are needed.

There are more than 120,000 elephants living in Zimbabwe's national parks.

http://news.yahoo.com/zimbabwe-poachers-jailed-15-years-elephant-poisoning-172555271.html