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The brother of Cecil, the lion killed in Zimbabwe by an American hunter last month, is not dead, a researcher monitoring the pride told Reuters, contradicting media reports that Jericho had been killed. "He looks alive and well to me as far as I can tell," said Brent Stapelkamp, field researcher for the Hwange Lion Research Project which is monitoring the lion with a GPS tag. A group called the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force posted on its Facebook page that Jericho had been killed at 4 p.m. on Saturday, a report picked up by some Western news media that was...

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. "Are you saying that all this noise is about a dead lion? Lions are killed all the time in this country,"...

Two huge Burmese pythons were caught and killed recently, one by a homeowner in Missouri’s rural Warren County, and the other by a researcher in Florida’s Shark Valley. Burmese pythons are considered to be a highly invasive species across the American Southeast, especially in Everglades National Park, where the slithery creatures have started to colonize. Experts say the snakes threaten native wildlife species like ground-nesting birds, but it seems that the reptiles also have an appetite for domestic animals as well. For days, a massive 14-foot python had stalked a community near Jonesburg, until residents took matters into their own...

<p>An environmental advocacy group is suing Florida’s wildlife-protection commission, demanding a stop to a planned bear hunting season in the fall. Speak Up Wekiva filed the lawsuit Friday in Tallahassee. The lawsuit claims the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conversation Commission violated the state constitution by lifting a two-decade ban on bear hunting. Amendment 5 was passed in 1998 and requires the state to make adequate provision to protect its natural resources. A commission spokeswoman didn’t immediately return a call for comment. Florida outlawed all bear hunting in 1994. But a bear rebound, as well as an increase in the number of nuisance calls and bears killed by cars, were cited as reasons for allowing a new one-week hunt in the fall. There would be a limit of 200 bears total. The lawsuit was first reported by WMFE-FM in Orlando.</p>

Sen. Bob Menendez has introduced legislation to curb trophy hunting of endangered and threatened species after the demise of Cecil, an African lion whose death at the hands of an American hunter touched off a social media firestorm. The Conserving Ecosystems by Ceasing the Importation of Large Animal Trophies Act would extend restrictions on the import and export of animals that are being considered for inclusion under the Endangered Species Act. Currently, the restrictions apply only to animals already on the list. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had suggested the African lion be listed as “threatened” in October, but...

<p>The brother of slain Cecil the lion, named Jericho, was killed Saturday in Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe, a senior park official told CNN.</p> <p>Jericho was gunned down by a hunter operating illegally, said Johnny Rodrigues, head of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force.</p>

Cecil the lion's brother Jericho has been shot dead by poachers in a park in Zimbabwe.  The beloved animal was protecting Cecil's lion cubs after he was shot dead by Minnesota dentist Walter Palmer earlier this month, sparking outrage around the world.  Jericho is believed to have been gunned down during an illegal hunting operation in Hwange National Park on Saturday afternoon during. Johnny Rodrigues, Chairman for Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, said in a statement: '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...

The killing of a beloved lion named Cecil by a trophy hunting dentist from Minnesota has an outraged American public asking: What kind of monsters would kill a majestic big cat for fun? Unfortunately for one Republican presidential hopeful, the answer is: his sons. Donald Trump was forced to weigh in on the issue this week after a gory photo of his trophy hunting sons resurfaced online, tying his family to the very practice that has sparked fierce backlash in recent days. When asked for his response at a press conference in Scotland this week, Trump was reportedly far from...

Full title: Here's What the Guy Who Paid $50,000 to Kill Cecil the Lion Can Learn from the Guy Who Paid $350,000 to Kill a Black Rhino Done right, paid hunts for endangered animals can be a huge boon for conservation ... the problem isn't that Palmer paid a lot of money to hunt a lion, it's that he didn't pay enough money, he paid it to the wrong people, and he killed the wrong lion ... American Corey Knowlton paid $350,000 for a permit to hunt a black rhino in Namibia under the auspices of the Dallas Safari Club...

Washington (AFP) - Urging Americans to curb trophy killings and not be "cowardly lions," US lawmakers introduced legislation Friday that would prevent the kinds of controversial hunting that brought down Zimbabwe's beloved beast Cecil. Senate Democrat Robert Menendez's bill would expand the import-export restrictions of the 1973 Endangered Species Act to include animals that are not just listed as endangered or threatened, but those that are "proposed to be listed" as such. The US Fish and Wildlife Service, which maintains the US endangered species list, last October proposed to list the African lion as threatened due to habitat loss and...

While the death of a protected lion in Zimbabwe has caused outrage in the United States — much of it centered on the Minnesota dentist who killed the animal — most in Zimbabwe expressed a degree of bafflement over the concern. The discovery that Cecil, the star of Zimbabwe national park had been lured out and killed by American bow hunter Walter James Palmer has resulted in online anger and protests at his dental clinic. Outside Zimbabwe's environmental and activist circles, however, the reaction been muted. "It's so cruel, but I don't understand the whole fuss, there are so many...

Attention Cecil The Lion Fans: Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe Allegedly Ate A Baby Elephant Outraged animal lovers and conservationists petitioning the White House to extradite big-game hunter Walter Palmer to Zimbabwe for killing Cecil the lion may be unaware the the country’s president, Robert Mugabe, reportedly ate baby elephant meat during his lavish 91st birthday party in late February. A deceased lion was also allegedly involved in those festivities, a bash that cost about $1 million and was staged at a luxury resort with thousands of party guests in attendance. “Held a week after his birthday, the celebrations were described...

. . . They knew he was named after Cecil Rhodes, a man libs despise as an apparent racist and imperialist?'Cecil was first identified in 2008 or 2009, spotted with his brother. The pair were seen at a "pan" or watering hole called Magisihole Pan, on the southern boundary of Hwange park. Magisihole Pan translates as "White Man's watering hole" and so the siblings were named after famous white men: Cecil, after Cecil Rhodes, and Leander – named after Leander Starr Jameson, a pioneer in southern Africa and colleague of Rhodes.'I wonder if they'd see this venerable lion's death as...

The Obama administration is moving to investigate the death of Cecil The Lion, in reaction to the online uproar over the news that the huge African cat was killed by an American dentist.

The meaning of an individual animal Among the reasons not to feel outraged about the killing of Cecil the lion are these two: he had a human name and he was a well-known tourist attraction. I say ‘tourist attraction’ instead of 'beloved lion’ because that hackneyed phrase seems to me a concept empty of meaning. How can a lion be wild and be 'beloved’ by people who saw him once from a safari jeep? You don’t earn the right to 'love’ a lion that way. Cecil was a wild lion who was habituated to humans, collared for a biology study,...

Two days after the killing of Cecil the lion sparked a firestorm on social media, the United States government announced that it will investigate the death of the prized African creature.The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said on Twitter Thursday that the government agency is currently “investigating” the killing of the lion, allegedly carried out by Minnesota dentist Dr. Walter Palmer.“We’re investigating the killing of #CecilTheLion. Will go where facts lead. We ask Dr. Palmer or his rep to contact USFWS immediately,” the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service tweeted. “We share your concern about the issue surrounding #CeciltheLion and we’re...

The WhiteHouse.gov petition calling for the extradition of Walter Palmer, the Minnesota dentist who recently admitted to killing Cecil the Lion in Zimbabwe, has surpassed 100,000 signatures, meaning the White House will have to respond to the petition. “We urge the Secretary Of State John Kerry and the Attorney General Loretta Lynch to fully cooperate with the Zimbabwe authorities and to extradite Walter Palmer promptly at the Zimbabwe government's request,” the petition reads.

U.S. wildlife agencies will assist Zimbabwean authorities in their investigation into the killing of the iconic African lion, Cecil, according to a published report. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports dentist Walter Palmer has not been charged in Zimbabwe, though his guide and outfitter have. Palmer, who lives in the Minneapolis suburb of Eden Prairie and practices in nearby Bloomington, said late Tuesday he regretted the animal’s death, but thought he was acting legally.

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...

I think there’s something odd—maybe even phony or at least self-deluding—about people going berserk over that dentist shooting a lion. Even many of the animal-welfare activists themselves are quick to note that while Twitter heaps death threats on the dentist, chickens and cows go on dying by the millions. I am not so inhuman in my utilitarianism as to think people’s outrage and empathy should be turned into an abstract, fine-tuned calculator, divorced from the spectacles immediately before their eyes, but sometimes the contrast between their moments of empathy and their moments of callousness is jarring and strange. Take Jimmy...