Barely a few days after news of the killing of Cecil the lion, another beast has been reported to have been killed by a second US tourist.
The National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (NPWMA) has said the second American was involved in an illegal bow and arrow hunt of a lion around the Hwange National Park in April.
The man was named as Jan Casimir Seski of Murrysville, Pennsylvania.
Messages left by the Associated Press at Seski’s home, and with an answering service for his medical practice, were not immediately returned. A Zimbabwean Headman Sibanda has been arrested in the case and is assisting police with their investigation, the NPWMA said.
Meanwhile after all the hype about the reported shooting of another monitored Hwange National Park lion known as Jericho, it has emerged that the reports were after all incorrect as Jericho the lion is alive and well.
The Zimbabwe Conversation Task Force who were the first to disclose the death of Cecil had erroneously reported that Jericho who is also another monitored lion had been killed in a manner similar to Cecil causing a further outcry on the shooting of lions at the park. In a statement in their Facebook page the task force retracts their statement on the death of Jericho claiming a case of mistaken identity.
The task force claims to have received three reports from the park by reliable sources that Jericho had been killed. The misinformation was only retracted after the park began receiving a signal from Jericho’s collar. According to the statement Jericho is alive and has in fact adopted Cecil’s cubs.
The correct information now appears to be that indeed another lion has been killed the Cecil way at the park. The trust while relieved that it’s not Jericho who has been killed though condemns the killing of yet another lion.
“….although we are relieved that it was not Jericho, we are not happy that yet another lion has been killed….” reads the statement.