Despite the worldwide outrage over the shooting of Cecil the Lion by Walter Palmer back in 2015, it looks like his oldest cub has suffered the same fate as his father.

Featured Image VIA

According to the lion guardians at the Hwange National Park in north west Zimbabwe, Xanda was shot dead by trophy hunters just outside the park. To make this tragic event even worse, he was only six years old and had several young cubs at the time of his death.

Richard Cooke, the evil man/professional hunter who is allegedly responsible for killing Xanda, also reportedly killed his brother back in 2015. Does he have no mercy? The death was recorded after Cooke handed Xanda’s electronic collar back to researchers.

Andrew Loveridge, from the Department of Zoology at Oxford University, said:

I fitted it last October. It was monitored almost daily and we were aware that Xanda and his pride was spending a lot of time out of the park in the last six months, but there is not much we can do about that.

Richard Cooke is one of the ‘good’ guys. He is ethical and he returned the collar and communicated what had happened.

His hunt was legal and Xanda was over 6 years old so it is all within the stipulated regulations.

The killing of Cecil might have been more controversial due to the circumstances – Palmer bribed the guides with £35,000 so he could kill him with a crossbow – but I still don’t understand why people can’t just leave these animals to live out their lives naturally. Obviously it’s the circle of life and all that, but killing for sport just seems pointless and sadistic. The only silver lining is that Xanda will be reunited with his dad up in wildlife heaven.

To read about who would win in a fight – Cecil vs. Harambe – click HERE.