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Zimbabwe Upholds Trophy Hunt of Research-Collared Lion as Calls for Stricter Safeguards Intensify

Parks agency says permits were in order with fees from lion hunts underpinning vital conservation budgets

FILE - Cecil the Lion rests near Kennedy One Water Point in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe, Nov. 20, 2013. (AP Photo/Sean Herbert, File)
FILE - Demonstrators gather outside the dental practice of Walter Palmer, Sept. 8, 2015, in Bloomington, Minn. AP Photo/Jim Mone, File)
People at a vigil in London on July 30, 2016, hold candles and pamphlets showing an image of Cecil the lion, who was killed by an American trophy hunter in 2015.
The lion known as "Blondie," seen here in April 2025, was killed by a trophy hunter in Zimbabwe.

Overview

  • Zimbabwe National Parks Agency confirms Blondie’s June hunt complied with all legal permits under the country’s trophy hunting regulations.
  • Blondie, a five-year-old GPS-collared lion studied by Oxford University, was lured out of a protected photographic concession into a legal hunting zone using bait.
  • Conservation groups are campaigning for a three-mile no-kill buffer around Hwange National Park and tighter enforcement of the six-year minimum age rule for lion hunts.
  • Zimbabwe authorizes up to 100 lions to be hunted annually and earns about $20 million in fees that support underfunded park operations and community programs.
  • Advocacy organizations warn Blondie’s killing exposes persistent ethical and regulatory gaps left unresolved since Cecil the lion’s 2015 death.