Hunter who killed lion Cecil blames Zimbabwean guides
Zimbabwe-US/crime/nature/Harare (dpa) - Two Zimbabweans accused of assisting a US tourist in killing a lion wearing a tracking collar were released on bail of 1,000 dollars each, their lawyer, Givemore Mavhingi, told dpa on Wednesday.
The court case against Theo Bronkhorst and Honest Trymore Ndlovu will resume on August 5 in the town of Hwange, located roughly 700 kilometres south-west of the capital, Harare, according to Mavhingi.
Previous reports described Bronkhorst as a hunting guide and Ndlovu as a local farm owner.
The report of the death of Cecil, a wild lion popular with tourists through wildlife research funded by Oxford University, for which he was GPS tagged, brought a storm of internet outrage.
Tuesday saw the identification of US dentist Walter James Palmer as the trophy hunter who first shot Cecil in a nighttime bow hunt before eventually killing the big cat with a gunshot.
Palmer issued a statement blaming his local guides, saying he had been led to believe the hunt in early July was "legal and properly handled and conducted."
