This has been the thing that people have been talking about for some time. The trending topic if you would call it. This has been quite the shocking news for many people especially the Zimbabweans. People all around the world have been united in mourning Cecil and on everyone’s mind there was just one thing “Why was such a magnificent beast who was named the pride of Zimbabwe killed and who is  this person who has committed what can be called a horrible act.”

Cecil was a 13-year old Southwest African Lion who was born in 2002. He lived at the Hwange National Park in Matabeleland North, Zimbabwe. Cecil was loved by the Hwange National Park and was the park’s main attractions. People of Zimbabwe named him as the “pride of Zimbabwe”. In 2008, the University of Oxford decided to study and track him and installed a GPS Collar around his neck. He has been tracked since then. On 1^st July 2015, the horrifying act of killing Cecil had been committed but everyone wanted to know who was behind this.

It was discovered that an American dentist by the name of Walter Palmer was orchestrating this attack and he paid $50,000 to a professional guide, Theo Bronkhorst to kill Cecil. Theo lured Cecil out of the sanctuary where he decided to shoot the lion with an arrow from a crossbow and after doing this Cecil was wounded and 40 hours later, with the help of a rifle he was killed. To make matters worse, Cecil was skinned and he was beheaded. Investigators of the Hwange National Park found his headless skeleton and they found that his tracking collar was missing. Theo later revealed that he had hung it by a tree as he was scared.

It was stated by Zimbabwe National Parks that neither Bronkhorst nor Honest Ndlovu, the landowner of the land where Cecil was shot possessed an adequate permit for this activity but Bronkhorst said otherwise. He admitted to have got a permit from the council for bow hunting and also the permit required to kill the lion. Both Honest and Bronkhorst were arrested for this and were accused of being responsible in assisting Palmer in killing Cecil. But amidst all this, Palmer had returned back to the States and he said that he was dependant on his local guides who were professionals at this and thought that they had ensured the4 legality of the hunt. He later released a statement stating that he deeply regrets the fact that doing something which he loves and something which he does responsibly has resulted in this.

Cecil’s death had caused an outrage worldwide. Celebrities, politicians and many others did their part in their bid to honor Cecil’s death. Jimmy Kimmel, a late night talk show host did his bid by raising a donation of upto $150,000 in less than 24 hours. People signed for an online petition called “Justice for Ceil” and the number of people who signed up amounted to almost 900,000 people. In Zimbabwe, Cecil’s killing had gone unnoticed. The Zimbabwe officials had stated that the killing of Cecil had resulted in the drop in tourism and many people used to come to Zimbabwe just to see all this especially Cecil and it was a great loss for them. As for Walter Palmer, he received death threats and he people started posting his personal details about him on social media and people put charts and wrote messages outside his office. He recruited two armed bodyguards for his safety.

Theo Bronkhorst appeared in a court and was charged with poaching offences as he did not possess the required hunting permit. He was granted a bail at $1000 and had to reappear on 5^th August whereas Honest was charged as he allowed an illegal hunt on his land. On 5^th August Theo appeared before the court and was charged with failing to prevent an illegal hunt and the case was adjourned until 28^th September. On 31^ST July, Zimbabwe officials they used proceedings to extradite Palmer from the US to face a charge.

But what’s next for Cecil’s cubs? According to the Oxford University Study, when a male lion replaces the previous male lion, the new male lion kills the previous lion’s existing cubs (if has any). But later it was found that Cecil’s brother Jericho had taken over the pride and decided to protect Cecil’s six cubs and was keeping them safe from anyone killing them. But eventually, even Jericho was killed. At the end, how much ever people mourn over his death or honor it by signing petitions, he still won’t come back. Cecil might not be in this world physically but he remains in everyone’s heart and he will be missed by all especially by the people of Zimbabwe who considered this magnificent beast as a symbol of pride for Zimbabwe