Death of Zimbabwe’s Best-Loved Lion Ignites Debate on Sport Hunting

If every single person who has written on Facebook, texted, tweeted or discussed Cecil the lion would just put one dollar each towards african wildlife conservation in a way that it gets to the cause - to an anti poaching team, a lion research project, some community education ...anything .... we would be in a far better place - remember people, you cannot save a forrest by hugging a tree!!!!! - Ivan Carter
 
. . . . I can 100% guarantee the following. If the Doc is proven to be innocent and being caught out by a scam not one Anti is going to go on social media and apologize,not one will contribute money to fix the damage they have done to his reputation and not one will even think of what his family and himself endured. No backbone,the weak will always go for a soft target because they lack backbone.

Now ain't that the truth. Spineless bastards.
 
The following is from or by Debbie Gracy,

The bigger picture....Until the media (social and regular) actually care about the people of Zimbabwe and THEIR future... Cecil's offspring will struggle in that country.

For those who mourn Cecil's death by an Unethical hunter do something useful versus spewing so much hate. How about a water well in a village? Take that passion and do a good thing.

It was just months ago that a group of lions were poisoned in Tanzania. It never received this much press. It is an issue that is rampant. How many lions are lost in this manner all over Africa ? Vultures are in a dire situations due to poisoned meat set out for predators . What does that tell you?

We could buy a water well machine and start drilling water wells for villages so they can grow their food. All who mourn Cecil should feel some compassion for the humans Cecil shared his country with. That is a start to understanding "the big picture" of wildlife conservation in Africa .

If you are fortunate to live in a world where your children are well fed and you have clean drinking water and you can't decide where you want to go eat dinner or which wine you enjoy with ur meal.....think about the families who worry about how they will feed themselves because there is a drought and they can't grow their food for the year.

Placing little stuffed animals at the door step of the jerk who killed Cecil or dressing your child up in a lion costume or making death threats in memory of Cecil does not help in the "big picture." Share some of that compassion for Cecil with the people of Zim.

The People are a huge part of "the big picture" of wildlife conservation in Africa. You would be blown away if you met the little children who walk huge distances just to attend school. These are Cecil's offsprings future caretakers.

Maybe if we helped them overcome obstacles of basic survival they would have some free time to be concerned about Cecil's offspring future.
 
Are there any PH's or outfitters on here that can 100% explain if night hunting is legal there in Zimbabwe? Is it legal as long as it states it on the tag/ license?


Rick,

Since no one from Zim has answered, I will try.

Disclaimer: I am not from Zim and am not an outfitter/ph.

Yes, you can hunt at night in Zimbabwe. There may be some stipulations like only on private land but I am not sure. I don't believe it has anything to do with the TR2/license. Hopefully someone from Zim will answer.

From what is being reported the illegal thing about this hunt is no quota, making the hunt poaching.

My guess is that the outfitter was trying to do a "quota transfer/swap", also illegal from my understanding but it is done. A collared animal was shot with GPS tracking and the plan fell apart, hence the need to destroy the collar as opposed to turning it in the researcher who is monitoring the lion. With GPS coordinates uploaded, then the researcher knows when the lion goes off grid and who's land it is on, making it hard to say it was on land with quota 50 miles away.

It would be nice to get someone from Zim on to explain things.

Hope I didn't muddy up the water too much.
 
Yes, you can hunt at night in Zimbabwe. There may be some stipulations like only on private land but I am not sure. Hopefully someone from Zim will answer.
Not a PH but have hunted in Zim many times.

Unless things have changed, there is no night hunting on Parks concessions. Only on private land.
 
Not a PH but have hunted in Zim many times.

Unless things have changed, there is no night hunting on Parks concessions. Only on private land.


Thanks Hank. I thought it was something like that.
 
Not a PH but have hunted in Zim many times.

Unless things have changed, there is no night hunting on Parks concessions. Only on private land.

This is my understanding as well. Meaning that in this particular case the night hunting wasn't part of the issue.
 
Zimbabwe defines three categories of land where hunting is permitted; National Parks Safari Areas, Communal (tribal) Land and Alienated (private) Land. Each have their own regulations as to when hunting is allowed.

National Parks Safari Areas
National Parks Safari Areas are land in more remote marginal areas, unsuitable for agriculture but ideal for game and hunting operations on a sustainable off-take basis.
- Trophy hunting may take place from half an hour before sunrise until half an hour after sunset during the hunting season.
- Hunting is not allowed at night and no hunting is allowed with artificial light.
- No Planes, electronic calls, night vision scopes, spotlights, etc are allowed to be used to assist in hunting.
- Hunting from a vehicle is not permitted, though the vehicle can be used to reach the area from where hunting on foot can begin.
- Shooting an animal from a vehicle is not permitted, a person actually needs to be 55 yards (50 meters) away from a vehicle to shoot an animal.
- No animal may be chased or driven by a vehicle.
- Hunting is not permitted within 440 yards (400 meters) of any designated water place.
- Hunting with dog(s) is not permitted.
- Handguns are allowed as a back up but not for the actual hunt.
- Bowhunting is not permitted.

Communal (tribal) Land
Communal (tribal) Lands are traditionally held by indigenous people. Government grants authority to local District Councils to assume responsibility for the management and utilization of the wildlife. With assistance from National Parks the council decides on a sustainable annual quota of animals to be hunted and offers them to safari (hunting) operators on a tender basis. The funds thus generated go to benefit local development, such as building bridges and schools and installing grinding mills, and also to compensate local families whose crop production has been reduced by marauding wildlife. This scheme is known as CAMPFIRE (Communal Areas management Plan For Indigenous Resources).
- Within the parameters of various wildlife protection laws, the safari operator set the standard of what he considers ethical.
- On hunting designated Communal (tribal) Land, trophy hunting may take place within the hours of daylight during the hunting season.
- Hunting is allowed at night for nocturnal species such as Lion, Leopard, Bushpig, etc. and the use of artificial light and night vision scopes is permitted.
- Hunting with a handgun is permitted.
- Bowhunting is permitted.

Alienated (private) Land
Alienated (private) Lands are held by individuals. Game hunting quotas are based upon what the landowner deems appropriate and subject to the approval of the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZPWMA).
- Within the parameters of various wildlife protection laws, the landowner set the standard of what he considers ethical. The safari operator may also apply his own standard in addition to the landowner, if not the same person.
- Methods of hunting, such as bowhunting, handgun hunting, hunting with dogs for cats (a special hunting permit using dogs is required US$ 500), hunting at night with artificial light are all permitted and at the discretion of the landowner.
 
Thanks to all who answered. This is what I was looking for. There is SOOO much bad info out there on this topic. Night hunting, baiting, collard animals. Just wanted to clarify some things to people. This is the info I needed. Thanks again!
 
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Zimbabwe defines three categories of land where hunting is permitted; National Parks Safari Areas, Communal (tribal) Land and Alienated (private) Land. Each have their own regulations as to when hunting is allowed.

National Parks Safari Areas
National Parks Safari Areas are land in more remote marginal areas, unsuitable for agriculture but ideal for game and hunting operations on a sustainable off-take basis.
- Trophy hunting may take place from half an hour before sunrise until half an hour after sunset during the hunting season.
- Hunting is not allowed at night and no hunting is allowed with artificial light.
- No Planes, electronic calls, night vision scopes, spotlights, etc are allowed to be used to assist in hunting.
- Hunting from a vehicle is not permitted, though the vehicle can be used to reach the area from where hunting on foot can begin.
- Shooting an animal from a vehicle is not permitted, a person actually needs to be 55 yards (50 meters) away from a vehicle to shoot an animal.
- No animal may be chased or driven by a vehicle.
- Hunting is not permitted within 440 yards (400 meters) of any designated water place.
- Hunting with dog(s) is not permitted.
- Handguns are allowed as a back up but not for the actual hunt.
- Bowhunting is not permitted.

Communal (tribal) Land
Communal (tribal) Lands are traditionally held by indigenous people. Government grants authority to local District Councils to assume responsibility for the management and utilization of the wildlife. With assistance from National Parks the council decides on a sustainable annual quota of animals to be hunted and offers them to safari (hunting) operators on a tender basis. The funds thus generated go to benefit local development, such as building bridges and schools and installing grinding mills, and also to compensate local families whose crop production has been reduced by marauding wildlife. This scheme is known as CAMPFIRE (Communal Areas management Plan For Indigenous Resources).
- Within the parameters of various wildlife protection laws, the safari operator set the standard of what he considers ethical.
- On hunting designated Communal (tribal) Land, trophy hunting may take place within the hours of daylight during the hunting season.
- Hunting is allowed at night for nocturnal species such as Lion, Leopard, Bushpig, etc. and the use of artificial light and night vision scopes is permitted.
- Hunting with a handgun is permitted.
- Bowhunting is permitted.

Alienated (private) Land
Alienated (private) Lands are held by individuals. Game hunting quotas are based upon what the landowner deems appropriate and subject to the approval of the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZPWMA).
- Within the parameters of various wildlife protection laws, the landowner set the standard of what he considers ethical. The safari operator may also apply his own standard in addition to the landowner, if not the same person.
- Methods of hunting, such as bowhunting, handgun hunting, hunting with dogs for cats (a special hunting permit using dogs is required US$ 500), hunting at night with artificial light are all permitted and at the discretion of the landowner.


Thanks J.
 
How do we as hunters get the understanding of the urban, technological, disconnected (from nature) masses?

GET THEM OUTSIDE!



How Walking in Nature Changes the Brain
By: Gretchen Reynolds-Nytimes.com July 22, 2015

A walk in the park may soothe the mind and, in the process, change the workings of our brains in ways that improve our mental health, according to an interesting new study of the physical effects on the brain of visiting nature.

Most of us today live in cities and spend far less time outside in green, natural spaces than people did several generations ago.

City dwellers also have a higher risk for anxiety, depression and other mental illnesses than people living outside urban centers, studies show.

These developments seem to be linked to some extent, according to a growing body of research. Various studies have found that urban dwellers with little access to green spaces have a higher incidence of psychological problems than people living near parks and that city dwellers who visit natural environments have lower levels of stress hormones immediately afterward than people who have not recently been outside.

But just how a visit to a park or other green space might alter mood has been unclear. Does experiencing nature actually change our brains in some way that affects our emotional health?

That possibility intrigued Gregory Bratman, a graduate student at the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources at Stanford University, who has been studying the psychological effects of urban living. In an earlier study published last month, he and his colleagues found that volunteers who walked briefly through a lush, green portion of the Stanford campus were more attentive and happier afterward than volunteers who strolled for the same amount of time near heavy traffic.

But that study did not examine the neurological mechanisms that might underlie the effects of being outside in nature.

So for the new study, which was published last week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Mr. Bratman and his collaborators decided to closely scrutinize what effect a walk might have on a person’s tendency to brood.

Brooding, which is known among cognitive scientists as morbid rumination, is a mental state familiar to most of us, in which we can’t seem to stop chewing over the ways in which things are wrong with ourselves and our lives. This broken-record fretting is not healthy or helpful. It can be a precursor to depression and is disproportionately common among city dwellers compared with people living outside urban areas, studies show.

Perhaps most interesting for the purposes of Mr. Bratman and his colleagues, however, such rumination also is strongly associated with increased activity in a portion of the brain known as the subgenual prefrontal cortex.

If the researchers could track activity in that part of the brain before and after people visited nature, Mr. Bratman realized, they would have a better idea about whether and to what extent nature changes people’s minds.

Mr. Bratman and his colleagues first gathered 38 healthy, adult city dwellers and asked them to complete a questionnaire to determine their normal level of morbid rumination.

The researchers also checked for brain activity in each volunteer’s subgenual prefrontal cortex, using scans that track blood flow through the brain. Greater blood flow to parts of the brain usually signals more activity in those areas.

Then the scientists randomly assigned half of the volunteers to walk for 90 minutes through a leafy, quiet, parklike portion of the Stanford campus or next to a loud, hectic, multi-lane highway in Palo Alto. The volunteers were not allowed to have companions or listen to music. They were allowed to walk at their own pace.

Immediately after completing their walks, the volunteers returned to the lab and repeated both the questionnaire and the brain scan.

As might have been expected, walking along the highway had not soothed people’s minds. Blood flow to their subgenual prefrontal cortex was still high and their broodiness scores were unchanged.

But the volunteers who had strolled along the quiet, tree-lined paths showed slight but meaningful improvements in their mental health, according to their scores on the questionnaire. They were not dwelling on the negative aspects of their lives as much as they had been before the walk.

They also had less blood flow to the subgenual prefrontal cortex. That portion of their brains were quieter.

These results “strongly suggest that getting out into natural environments” could be an easy and almost immediate way to improve moods for city dwellers, Mr. Bratman said.

But of course many questions remain, he said, including how much time in nature is sufficient or ideal for our mental health, as well as what aspects of the natural world are most soothing. Is it the greenery, quiet, sunniness, loamy smells, all of those, or something else that lifts our moods? Do we need to be walking or otherwise physically active outside to gain the fullest psychological benefits? Should we be alone or could companionship amplify mood enhancements?

“There’s a tremendous amount of study that still needs to be done,” Mr. Bratman said.

But in the meantime, he pointed out, there is little downside to strolling through the nearest park, and some chance that you might beneficially muffle, at least for awhile, your subgenual prefrontal cortex.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/07/22/how-nature-changes-the-brain/?_r=0
 
'What lion?' Zimbabweans ask, amid global Cecil circus

By MacDonald Dzirutwe 4 hours ago


Piper Hoppe, 10, from Minnetonka, Minnesota, holds a sign at the doorway of River Bluff Dental clinic …
By MacDonald Dzirutwe

HARARE (Reuters) - As social media exploded with outrage this week at the killing of Cecil the lion, the untimely passing of the celebrated predator at the hands of an American dentist went largely unnoticed in the animal's native Zimbabwe.

"What lion?" acting information minister Prisca Mupfumira asked in response to a request for comment about Cecil, who was at that moment topping global news bulletins and generating reams of abuse for his killer on websites in the United States and Europe.

The government has still given no formal response, and on Thursday the papers that chose to run the latest twist in the Cecil saga tucked it away on inside pages.

One title had to rely on foreign news agency copy because it failed to send a reporter to the court appearance of two locals involved.

In contrast, the previous evening 200 people stood in protest outside the suburban Minneapolis dental practice of 55-year-old Walter Palmer, calling for him to be extradited to Zimbabwe to face charges of taking part in an illegal hunt.

Local police are also investigating death threats against Palmer, whose location is not known. Because many of the threats were online, police are having difficulty determining their origins and credibility.

Palmer, a lifelong big game hunter, has admitted killing Cecil with a bow and arrow on July 1 near Zimbabwe's Hwange national park, but said he had hired professional local guides with the required hunting permits and believed the hunt was legal.

For most people in the southern African nation, where unemployment tops 80 percent and the economy continues to feel the after-effects of billion percent hyperinflation a decade ago, the uproar had all the hallmarks of a 'First World Problem'.

"Are you saying that all this noise is about a dead lion? Lions are killed all the time in this country," said Tryphina Kaseke, a used-clothes hawker on the streets of Harare. "What is so special about this one?"

As with many countries in Africa, in Zimbabwe big wild animals such as lions, elephants or hippos are seen either as a potential meal, or a threat to people and property that needs to be controlled or killed.

The world of Palmer, who paid $50,000 to kill 13-year-old Cecil, is a very different one from that inhabited by millions of rural Africans who are more than occasionally victims of wild animal attacks.

According to CrocBITE, a database, from January 2008 to October 2013, there were more than 460 recorded attacks by Nile crocodiles, most of them fatal. That tally is almost certainly a massive underrepresentation.

"Why are the Americans more concerned than us?" said Joseph Mabuwa, a 33-year-old father-of-two cleaning his car in the center of the capital. "We never hear them speak out when villagers are killed by lions and elephants in Hwange."

(Additional reporting by Ed Stoddard in Johannesburg; Editing by Ed Cropley and Giles Elgood)
 

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"Why are the Americans more concerned than us?" said Joseph Mabuwa, a 33-year-old father-of-two cleaning his car in the center of the capital. "We never hear them speak out when villagers are killed by lions and elephants in Hwange."

Well that says it all.... And the answer is....
 
Obama Cecil.jpg
 
an elderly Cambodian woman asked me a sad question yesterday at work that i had no good answer for, she said:
Why do Americans care so much for one dead lion but when thousands of my people were being murdered they said nothing?

for those who dont know what shes was talking about please research "Khmer Rouge".

-matt
 
Light hunting is legal in Zim on private land. So is bait trailing from boundaries. Lion permits are transferable. I don't know if the aledged destruction of a tracking collars has legal consequences. I assume they belong to someone.
All this has to be tested in an appropriate venue regarding 'Cecil' and more details revealed.

Problem is he had a name. ( He wasn't a South African lion was he ? )
 
Something i just came across:

Why we hunt, even lions: Olivia Nalos Opre

Olivia Nalos Opre 3:52 p.m. EDT July 30, 2015
Real hunters need thriving wildlife, so we help make it happen.
635738147400046416-Benin-2006---Raw-Photos-012.jpg


(Photo: Yann Le Bouvier)

COMMENTE MAIL
Hunting is one of America's favorite pastimes, offering camaraderie in the field, sense of self accomplishment in both defeat and triumph, and ultimately provide the purest meat source one can put on a family's table. More importantly, hunters play the most important role in preserving, protecting and ensuring that our world's great wildlife continue to flourish. That's why it is sad to see front pages taken over by the actions of an unscrupulous professional hunter and a dentist with a record of flaunting the rules that ensure hunting and conservation go hand in hand.

There's a greater picture here than one law-breaking hunt or an image of spending time in the field with grandpa in pursuit of an old turkey to put on the table. Through the sales of hunting licenses, equipment, tags, and so on, sportsmen contribute $2.9 billion every year for conservation. As a result, many of the most popular wildlife species have rebounded from near-extinction levels to become common sightings.

Hunters are happy to pay to improve habitat, protect our streams, rivers and lakes and ensure our wildlands remain healthy because we know that in order for future generations to enjoy our great hunting heritage, we need to be responsible stewards of wildlife. Charged with the protection (anti-poaching efforts) and management of wildlife (habitat enhancement and ensuring predator-prey populations balance with available habitat), state fish and game agencies receive approximately 75% of funding from hunter/angler/shooter dollars paid in license, tag and permit fees, and through the Federal aid in the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act.

Further, hunters generate millions of dollars and provide thousands of volunteer man hours to non-governmental organizations such as Ducks Unlimited and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. More than 10 million acres of wetlands have been restored by DU alone. And organizations like the Sportsmen's Alliance and the Safari Club International ensure that sportsmen continue to contribute to wildlife conservation by lobbying for the regulation of ethical hunting and the protection of hunters and the North American Wildlife Conservation model around the country and around the world.

Show me a species that has gone extinct from modern, regulated sport hunting. I bet you can’t. Other countries such as Zimbabwe are adopting the North American wildlife conservation model to help save the world's great wildlife in the same way it helped American wildlife flourish.

Responsible outfitters do much to protect wildlife globally. In order for an outfitter to continue operating, there needs to be wildlife. Subsequently, funds from foreign hunters provide an economic stimulus for residents to protect and responsibly manage wildlife. Those dollars fund habitat protection and enhancement, which in turn produces healthier animal populations and anti-poaching teams that protect wildlife often targeted by suppliers of the black market. When there's an intrinsic value placed on wildlife, residents have a vested interest in their habitats and protection as opposed to profiting from the selling of ivory or plowing habitat under.
Consider Kenya which closed hunting in 1977. Poaching has decimated wildlife outside Kenya’s famous national parks since the ban was imposed. With the absence of outfitters operating in the country and no intrinsic value given to wildlife by residents, Kenya’s rhino and elephant populations could disappear within a decade. And, unfortunately, there's no incentive for the community to change that paradigm.

It must be said that hunters do not condone the illegal activities or poaching of animals be it in the U.S. or abroad. Period. There is a difference between hunting and poaching that is often missed by the media and general public, and the two are often couched together by animal-rights activists as one and the same. .

It may be hard for non-hunters to understand, but hunters consider it our privileged responsibility to care for wildlife by playing our vital role in the great circle of life. We only look to follow in the footsteps of our ancestors and enjoy the great outdoors with friends and family and ultimately provide for our families. Ultimately, we strive to keep our forests healthy, our water clean and our wildlife populations abundant so future generations can share and enjoy what we have experienced.

Olivia Nalos Opre and her husband Tom co-host of 'Eye of The Hunter' on NBC Sports Outdoors channel. She is a hunting consultant for Jack Brittingham’s World of Hunting Adventure and has hunted around the world.

In addition to its own editorials, USA TODAY publishes diverse opinions from outside writers, including our Board of Contributors. To read more columns like this, go to the Opinion front page.
 

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