A Zimbabwe court has agreed to drop charges against Theo Bronkhorst, a professional hunter who is said to have charged dentist Walter Palmer $50,000 to hunt Cecil in July 2015. Palmer had already had been cleared of charges.
Bronkhorst’s lawyer said the charges against his client were too vague to enable the defense to properly mount a defense. “There was no full trial, but the judge has decided that the charges as they were brought at that time were not properly constituted. He’s agreed with us on that point, and that is all there is to it.”
Bronkhorst arranged the hunt for Palmer, who shot and wounded Cecil with a bow – they then tracked the wounded lion for another 11 hours before killing him.
Cecil was one of the country’s most popular tourist attractions. His death drew the attention and anger of the international conservation community and caused an adverse reaction toward the big game hunting industry. The story of Cecil’s death jolted the conservation community into action.
Over the past year, countries have restricted the import of lion trophies, lions have been put under stricter conservation protections and several airlines have banned the transport of lion trophies aboard their planes.
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