Two years after an American trophy hunter infamously killed Cecil the Lion in Zimbabwe, another huntsman shot one of Cecil’s sons dead.
Xanda, a 6-year-old lion, was fatally shot by a big game hunter outside Hwange National Park, The Telegraph reports. Oxford University researchers who monitor the lion population in the park identified Xanda due to a tracking collar that they had fitted him with.
Oxford zoologist Andrew Loveridge, who is part of the monitoring team, confirmed to HuffPost that the reports were accurate.
“As researchers we are saddened at the death of a well-known study animal we have monitored since birth,” he said in a statement. Xanda left behind a pride of three females and seven cubs.
The hunter was acting legally when he killed Xanda. Richard Cooke, the Zimbabwean professional hunter who accompanied the man who shot Xanda, returned the collar to researchers. Cooke’s client, the shooter, has not been identified.
“[Cooke] is ethical and he returned the collar and communicated what had happened,” Loveridge told the Telegraph. “His hunt was legal and Xanda was over 6 years old so it is all within the stipulated regulations.”
Hunting is prohibited inside Hwange National Park, which is a protected area, but animals like Xanda and Cecil are at risk if they wander outside the boundaries.
Lions of Hwange National Park, a Facebook group that reports on the lions at the park, posted about the death on Thursday, noting that Xanda was killed “a few days ago.”
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