Majestic Cecil The Lion With His Family Before Death

Cecil the lion was popular with visitors to Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe who were fascinated by his unusual black mane

Cecil was a lion in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe. He was killed on 1 July 2015, at the age of thirteen. Cecil had been studied by scientists from Oxford University as part of a scientific project that has run since 1999. According to the conservationists, Cecil was wearing a GPS collar to track his movements. As a result of papers published from the study, Cecil had become a tourist attraction for visitors to the park.

In July 2015, an American big game hunter paid US$55,000 (£35,000) to a professional hunter to enable him to kill a lion. Cecil was allegedly lured off the protected park site, wounded with a bow and arrow, stalked for 40 hours, and then finally shot.

The American had returned to the United States, where global media and social media reaction has resulted in more than 265,000 people signing online petition “Justice for Cecil”, which calls on Zimbabwe’s government to stop issuing hunting permits for endangered animals. According to the IUCN Red List, lions are listed as “vulnerable.”

And Cecil wasn’t the only lion to suffer. If a male lion dies, the new pride leader will often kill any youngsters, so it’s likely that Cecil’s six cubs were killed as well.

This is the last known photograph of Cecil the lion (bottom) taken by Brent Stapelkamp before he was killed by the American dentist. Cecil is pictured with Jericho, a male lion who it is feared could kill the cubs of the pride fathered by Cecil