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Cecil ( 2002 – 1 July 2015) was a male Southwest African lion (''Panthera leo bleyenberghi'') that lived primarily in the Hwange National Park in Matabeleland North, Zimbabwe. The lion was a major attraction at the park and was being studied and tracked by the University of Oxford as part of a larger study. Cecil was wounded with an arrow by Walter Palmer, an American recreational big-game hunter,〔 was then tracked, and on 1 July 2015, approximately 40 hours later, killed with a rifle. He was 13 years old when killed.〔 The killing drew international media attention and sparked outrage among animal conservationists, politicians and celebrities, as well as a strong negative response against Palmer. Two men in Zimbabwe are being prosecuted in relation to the hunt.〔〔 Palmer had a permit and was not charged with any crime. Authorities in Zimbabwe have said he is free to visit Zimbabwe as a tourist but not as a hunter.〔 ==Background== Cecil—named after Cecil Rhodes—and another lion believed to be Cecil's brother were noticed in Hwange National Park in 2008. In 2009, the two lions encountered an established pride, which resulted in a fight in which Cecil's brother was killed and both Cecil and the leader of the pride were seriously wounded;〔 the leader was subsequently killed by park rangers because of the wounds he had received in the fight with Cecil. Cecil retreated to another part of the park where he eventually established his own pride which had up to 22 members. In 2013, Cecil was forced out from the area by two young male lions into the eastern border of the park. There, he created a coalition with another male lion named Jericho to establish two prides which consisted of Cecil, Jericho, half a dozen females and up to a dozen cubs sired by Cecil or Jericho. Cecil was the best-known animal in the national park〔 and was identifiable by his black-fringed mane and a GPS tracking collar.〔 The lions in the park, including Cecil, have been studied by scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit at Oxford University as part of a scientific project that has run since 1999, and his movements had been followed since 2008. Of the 62 lions tagged during the study period, 34 have died, thereof 24 through sport hunting.〔 Of adult male lions that were tagged inside the park, 72% were killed through sport hunting on areas near the park.〔 One of the researchers on the project suggested that Cecil had become so popular because he was accustomed to people, allowing vehicles sometimes as close as , making it easy for tourists and researchers to photograph and observe him. In 2013, 49 hunted lion carcasses were exported from Zimbabwe as trophies;〔 the 2005–2008 Zimbabwe hunt "off-take" (licensed kills) average was 42 lions per year. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Killing of Cecil the lion」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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