There have been conflicting reports on whether Jericho, Cecil The Lion's brother, has been killed.
Based on a report made by the Chairman for the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force Johnny Rodrigues, Jericho has been illegally slain by a hunter in the Hwange National Park.
"It is with great sadness and regret that we report that Jericho was shot dead at 4pm this afternoon. We are absolutely heartbroken. We have no further details but will advise as soon as we know more," said Rodrigues in a statement.
The news of Jericho's death, if true, would not only be a double blow to animal conservationists but also a huge ordeal in terms of wildlife preservation.
The controversial death of his sibling, Cecil The Lion, caused an international uproar when dentist Walt Palmer allegedly paid $55,000 to kill the animal. The Zimbabwe government now appeals to the US government to turn the foreign poacher over to them so he can be extradited under their law.
In addition, Palmer's use of the bow and arrow as a hunting weapon is deemed by the authorities a violation of Zimbabwe's hunting regulations.
Theo Bronkhurst, a professional Zimbabwean hunter who accompanied Palmer, maintained his innocence. "I don't believe I failed in any duties at all, I was engaged by a client to do a hunt for him and we shot an old male lion that I believed was past his breeding age. I don't think that I've done anything wrong," he said.
Palmer has successfully returned to the United States but ever since his identity was revealed by Zimbabwe's conservationists, his current whereabouts are unknown. Now that Cecil has passed, Jericho took over the task of caring for and defending his cubs. If Jericho were killed though, Animal Planet's David Salmoni warns that the chance of the cubs survival is gone.
However, in a recent report by the Associated Press' Gerard Imray, he conveyed a Zimbabwean lion researcher's doubt on the death of Jericho. As if to support this speculation, Hwange Lion Research Project's researcher Brent Stapelkamp told AP that Jericho has been sending normal signals, which indicates that the lion is alive and moving around.
Stapelkamp also told Reuters, "He looks alive and well to me as far as I can tell. When I heard that report, I had a look on the computer and his movements look regular. He sent a GPS point from his collar from 8:06 p.m. (02:06 p.m. EDT). Everything looks fine."
