Story at a glance
- A lion named Mopane was well known by local tour guides and visitors of Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe.
- The U.S. Humane Society said the 12-year-old lion may have been lured out of the park with an elephant carcass.
- “It is shameful that the U.S. has the distinction of being the world’s biggest importer of hunting trophies,” the Humane Society said.
A male lion named Mopane was allegedly killed by an American hunter outside of Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe, not far from where Cecil the lion was shot down in 2015.
The U.S. Humane Society said the 12-year-old lion may have been lured out of the park with an elephant carcass on Aug. 5 and was killed on land adjacent to the protected area, the same area where Cecil was killed by trophy hunters.
Mopane and another male lion, Sidhule, had formed a pride with two adult females and six other lions between the ages of 16 to 18 months. Sidhule was killed by big-game hunters in 2019.
The Humane Society says Mopane was well known by local tour guides and tourists visiting the area.
“Mopane was a father and played a significant role in his pride Without him, his pride is now vulnerable to takeover by another male or group of males, which may lead to the killing of the cubs and females in his pride,” Kitty Block, president and CEO of the U.S. Humane Society, said in a statement.
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“Another trophy hunter spending tens of thousands of dollars on a globe-trotting thrill-to-kill escapade shows humanity at its worst. It is shameful that the U.S. has the distinction of being the world’s biggest importer of hunting trophies,” Block said.
The death of Mopane is reminiscent of Cecil’s killing, which sparked efforts to crack down on overseas poaching several years ago. Cecil was killed by a Minnesota dentist who hired local guides to lure the animal out of the national park, where he shot and eventually beheaded the lion.
Lions are currently listed as “vulnerable” on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species. An estimated 20,000 lions remain in the wild in Africa.
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