Summarized by M.R.G.
Xanda with one of his lionesses
Xanda with his pride.
It’s hard to forget the tragic death of Cecil the lion who in 2015 was shot with a bow and arrow by a Minnesota dentist, Dr. Walter James Palmer, a trophy hunter. Doubly shocking is that one of Cecil’s sons, Xanda, met his untimely and tragic death by a trophy hunter this past July.
Oxford University’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCru), said that Xanda’s family consisted of three lionesses and eight cubs, all dependent on him. Dr. Andrew Loveridge of WildCru rates the chances of the cubs’ survival without Xanda at only 50%.
The exact circumstances of Xanda’s death are unknown, but the team has reported in the past that a zebra is shot first and used as bait to lure lions into an area where it’s legal to kill them.
Dr. Loveridge captures the feeling of loss, frustration and disappointed bafflement in this statement: I’ve handled that lion, felt the size of paws and seen him interact with his pride and cubs. I cannot understand why another person would look at that wonderful animal and think they couldn’t be happy until they had killed it and put parts of its body on their wall.
Please see the full article What really happened to Xanda, the son of Cecil the lion? written by Joe Shute for The Telegraph here.