Flippie returned just a week ago from a hunt in the Matetsi area of Zimbabwe, just north of Hwange National Park and near where Cecil was shot. He had the following to share.
Following on the hysteria in especially the social media about ‘Cecil the lion’, a number of Zimbabwean hunts have apparently been cancelled by international hunters. This understandable; no one wants to risk the type of treatment that was handed out to Dr. Palmer by the anti-hunting lunatics. This meant a loss of income for quite a number of villagers who rely on legal trophy hunting as their source of income. They then did the expected: turned to poaching! In one incident 22 elephant were poisoned in Hwange National Park. The poachers poisoned a waterhole and when the elephants died, the tusks were hacked out and the carcasses were left to rot. The hyenas, jackals and vultures that came in to feed on the carcasses also died. An unknown, but certainly large number, of other animals that drank from the poisoned waterhole must also have died.
This not an isolated incident. Poaching is rife and there are snares everywhere in the bush. Poison has become a popular method for poaching elephant and rhino. One can only conclude that without some serious intervention, the country may well end up without any wildlife in the not too distant future. This a good example of how the anti-hunting community, through their arrogant ignorance, is contributing towards the demise of Africa’s wildlife. It is a disgrace!
