Last year, when a lion named Cecil was killed by dentist Walter Palmer, international anger over the incident drove most big-game hunters away from Zimbabwe. Yet, due to what some are calling the “Cecil Effect,” a Zimbabwe preserve has warned that the lion population has grown unmanageable and has proposed killing off at least 200 of them.
Steve Taylor, the associate director for International Safety and Security at Harvard University, says there are a lot less hunters traveling to Zimbabwe now. As a result, experts say the lion population is getting out of hand, and pushing other animal populations like antelope and giraffe to dangerously low numbers.
To prevent the population from getting too large, the Bubye Valley Conservancy proposed killing 200 lions. However, the idea was quickly withdrawn after drawing intense criticism.
One hunter suggested a hunting raffle to help the conservancy. The idea was to sell tickets for $1,500 each, and the money would provide benefits for Bubye as well as thin the lion population. However, several animal groups rallied against the idea and the raffle never happened.
Some conservationists say this shines a light on just how desperate some conservancies have become as lion and other predator populations grow. Until the cull proposal was put on the table, the problem of overpopulation was largely ignored.
Another proposal is to move 500 lions out of the preserve, but funding for such an effort is hard to obtain. Taylor says no one wants to finance a move like that until someone says the lions are to be killed and that usually gets people’s attention.
“I think this is their way of saying to the naysayers who have denigrated the whole concept of a conservancy, ‘Somebody needs to step up to the plate.’ Hunters will not do it anymore. Somebody needs to step up to the plate and finance the translocation of those lions.”
Bubye Valley is located roughly 300 miles southeast of where Cecil was killed in the Hwange National Refuge. The conservancy has mostly relied on trophy hunting to pay for operating costs, but since Cecil’s death and public outrage, hardly any hunters are coming.
While negative publicity is certainly affecting hunters’ decisions, other factors are influencing them as well. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service considers African lions endangered and many airlines refuse to allow exotic animal trophies on-board.
Many are calling this trend the “Cecil Effect.”
Hwange researcher Brent Stapelkamp said many hunters have cancelled trips since the backlash of Cecil’s death.
“Now, whether that has to do with an awareness that things in the Zimbabwe hunting industry are not right, fear of being exposed on social media, restrictions on getting trophies home or what, we can’t say. But I am sure that there has been a massive cancellation of hunts and the industry is suffering.”
Not only is the Cecil Effect changing decisions made by hunters, but it may be creating hazardous situations for humans.
Shortly after Cecil was shot, a guide leading a tour group in Hwange was mauled to death by an aggressive lion named Nxaha. Taylor believes the guide hesitated to defend himself out of fear of public retaliation.
“We were all talking about it: If you shoot a lion, your career’s over,” said Taylor. “This guy was a really successful guide, and he died by a lion. And I think that’s the Cecil Effect. Guides in Zimbabwe are petrified of having the world turn on them.”
Some, like Bubye project leader Byron du Preez, do not believe in the Cecil Effect. He thinks the decline in hunters is not influenced by Cecil’s death, but by the economic recession being experienced by the U.S.
Whether the Cecil Effectis real or not, public scorn of big game hunters triggered after Walter Palmer killed Cecilcertainly exists. After the Minnesota dentist killed the lion, he was excoriated on social media, had protesters outside his door, and even faced death threats.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe conservationists fear the lion population will become unsustainable and aren’t sure if the West’s perception of hunting will ever be changed. As of now, they say conservancies need to explore new ways to raise money and move many lions to other wildlife sanctuaries willing to take them.
[Photo by AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi]