14 DAY TRIAL // Cecil the Lion was a 13-year-old lion from the Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe, who had been fitted with a GPS collar by researchers from the Oxford University and had become, in recent years, a sort of celebrity in the park.
Cecil the Lion was shot and killed by American dentist James Palmer, who, helped by two local professional hunters, Theo Bronkhorst and Honest Ndlovu, illegally lured the animal out of the park and shot him.
Palmer claims he thought the entire operation had been legal and that he only found out about Cecil once the hunt was over. He is now, as Jimmy Kimmel put it in his opening speech for his most recent show, the most hated man in America, after Bill Cosby.
Palmer paid $50,000 (€45,270) for the expedition, which included dragging a carcass through the park to lure Cecil out of it. He then shot him with a bow and arrow, but failed in killing him. It took him and his companions another 40 hours before they tracked the animal and put an end to his life.
They skinned him and took his head, leaving the carcass behind. Once they found the tracker, they tried to destroy it.
Kimmel was as upset about this as millions of other people, as you can see in the video below. At the end of the monolog, he provided viewers with the link to the Wildlife Research Conservation Unit at Oxford University, urging them to donate money to the cause so that “some good [may] come out of this disgusting tragedy.”
At that point, he had become so overwhelmed with emotion and anger, that he had to take a moment to hold back tears.
All 3 hunters are facing poaching charges.
