Ten years since Cecil – what next for trophy hunting?

Cecil the lion (c) AJ Loveridge

Ten years ago, a magnificent lion called Cecil was lured away from the safety of the national park in Zimbabwe where he lived and shot by a wealthy American with a bow and arrow, all so the hunter could hang the lion’s magnificent head on his wall.  

Cecil was 13 years old, the leader of two prides, and in the prime of his life. He was also the subject of a research project, and was fitted with a tracking collar.  

The incompetent hunter only managed to wound Cecil, who suffered for ten hours before finally being tracked down and killed the following day. In a cowardly act, the hunting party removed his collar and tried to conceal it in the bush to hide the fact that they had killed a well-known lion who was part of a study. The collar was later retrieved several kilometres from the site of the killing. 

Stand with Born Free against trophy hunting

While the killing of a lion by a trophy hunter in Southern Africa wasn’t a particularly unusual event, the circumstances of Cecil’s death drew international outrage, with widespread calls for an end to the cruel, cowardly and damaging practice of trophy hunting. 

Born Free, as a staunch opponent of trophy hunting, was at the heart of the media coverage in the UK. Born Free’s Policy Advisor, Dominic Dyer, said: “Ten years today, I toured all the major broadcast news studios in Britain on behalf of Born Free, expressing my horror and revulsion at the killing of Cecil the lion in Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe, by American dentist Walter Palmer.

“By the end of the day, my interviews had reached tens of millions of people and the global anger over the killing of Cecil the lion was being discussed by UK Prime Minster David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkle & American President Barack Obama. An image of Cecil the Lion was even projected against the side of the Empire State Building in New York.” 

Yet 10 years on, little has changed. Lions and other wild animals, many belonging to species that are threatened with extinction, continue to be targeted by trophy hunters so they can hang their body parts on their walls, or display them in their trophy cabinets and compete for bragging rights among their friends. 

Cecil and his cubs (c) Brent Stapelkamp

Since Cecil’s death, exports of almost a quarter of a million animal trophy items derived from species that are protected under international law (CITES) have been reported by over 100 countries, including thousands of body parts from lions, elephants, leopards, giraffes, and many other threatened species. These figures only reflect trophies from species that are listed under CITES and exported, and that countries are obliged to report; the true figures for trophy hunts will be far, far higher. 

Dominic Dyer continued: “Trophy hunting is hugely cruel, plays no significant role in wildlife or habit conservation often leads to corruption and can harm local communities. The lasting legacy of the tragic killing of Cecil the Lion should be a ban on all wild animal trophies to Britain.” 

In the UK, successive governments have promised to ban the importation of hunting trophies. However, despite strong and consistent public and parliamentary support, a ban remains elusive. In the meantime, British hunters continue to bring their gruesome spoils into the country. Over the decade since Cecil was killed, the UK has declared hundreds of trophy imports, including 99 lion trophies. 

Born Free’s Head of Policy Dr Mark Jones said: “At Born Free we oppose the killing of any animal for sport or pleasure. Trophy hunting causes immeasurable animal suffering and disrupts family groups with serious consequences for wildlife conservation and the wider ecology. It also denies local people their natural heritage and largely fails to deliver the claimed financial benefits for communities living alongside wildlife.  

“We commend the UK government’s commitment to ban the import of hunting trophies – a UK ban could be the catalyst for similar bans across the world. However, we need to turn this promise into action and urge the government to table the necessary legislation without further delay. This, the 10th anniversary of Cecil’s death, is surely the time to finally get the ban done and take a further step towards bringing this colonial-era, so-called ‘sport’, to an end.” 

Born Free is urging its supporters to once again write to their MP to ask them to lobby the government to #GetTheBanDone.  

WRITE TO YOUR MP