The government of Zimbabwe may soon be forced to shoot 200 lions due to the lull in big-game hunting in light of the anti-hunting backlash that followed the killing of Cecil the Lion in July 2015.
Cecil was killed with a gun after being shot with a bow and arrow by American Dentist Walter Palmer. Such outrage ensued on the part of animal rights activists and anti-hunting protesters that Palmer had to go into hiding for a time and even hired personal security for himself. During the period of outrage, Sharon Osborne tweeted her hope that Palmer “loses his home, his practice, & his money.”
Osborne went so far as to suggest Palmer lost his soul by shooting Cecil.
Now, according to the Mirror, the result of the anti-hunting backlash is a population explosion in Zimbabwe’s Bubye Valley Conservatory. There are currently over 500 lions in the conservatory, exceeding the target population by 200 animals. And the New Zealand Herald reports that the numerous lions are “decimating populations of antelope, along with other animals such as giraffe, cheetah, leopards and wild dogs, after the driest summer on record kept grasses low and made the small game easy targets.”
The problem is big enough that Bubye hopes other conservatories might take some of its lions. And if that does not happen, the government of Zimbabwe may simply shoot the extra 200 animals.
The National Post reports that Bubye and other conservatories use the term “the Cecil effect” to describe the “unsustainable” growth of the lion population throughout Zimbabwe.
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.