‘Tough to charge US hunter for Cecil’s death’

HARARE: It would be “very difficult” to prove charges that Zimbabwe’s famous lion Cecil was illegally killed by an American hunter last month, several lawyers said.

Walter Palmer, 55, who shot Cecil on farm land near the Hwange National Park, must know by now, diplomatic sources say, that Zimbabwe has little chance of forcing his extradition to Harare.

However, that is not what the Zimbabwean government believes. At a press conference, new environment minister Oppah Muchinguri said she understood the process was under way to extradite Palmer from the US.

“Unfortunately, it was too late to apprehend the foreign poacher, as he had already absconded to his country of origin,” she said.

Several lawyers say that the extradition treaty between the two countries still needed to be incorporated into law in Zimbabwe. In addition, they say the maximum penalty for illegal hunting in Zimbabwe is too small for US extradition laws. The worst penalty for an illegal hunt in Zimbabwe is a fine of about R4 000, or six months in prison. The US says it will only agree to extradition if a citizen is sentenced to a year or more.

Since the international outcry at Cecil’s death, two Zimbabwean professional hunters have been charged with allegations that they were part of illegal lion hunts with foreigners.

Zimbabwean Theo Bronkhorst, 52, was charged with organising Palmer’s hunt. Police have still not managed to craft charges to put to a third man, Honest Ndlovu, who occupies the land where Cecil was killed.

Bronkhorst claims he had a permit for his client Palmer to kill one large male lion.

He said that his client had followed the letter of the law which was to pay for the hunt. Lawyers say Bronkhorst and Palmer broke no law by hunting at night, nor was it illegal to drag bait through the veld to attract animals closer to hunters. It was not illegal to use a bow and arrow. So, lawyers said, prosecutors would have a tough job to make the charges of an illegal hunt stick.