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Cecil the lion at Hwange National Park in 2015. Paula French/PA

Cecil the lion's son Xanda shot dead in Zimbabwe trophy hunt

Cecil’s killing sparked international outcry in 2015.

CONSERVATIONISTS IN ZIMBABWE have said the son of a lion named Cecil, whose 2015 killing prompted an international outcry, has also been killed during a hunt.

A group named Friends of Hwange Trust said on Facebook that 6-year-old Xanda, Cecil’s son, was shot on a “legal trophy hunt” several days ago. The group says Xanda, who was wearing a GPS collar installed by researchers, was killed outside the boundary of Hwange National Park.

Another group named Lions of Hwange National Park says Xanda was killed by a Zimbabwean professional hunter.

Minnesota dentist Walter Palmer killed Cecil after the lion was allegedly lured outside Hwange park with an animal carcass used as bait. Zimbabwe described the killing as illegal and said it would charge Palmer, but later dropped that plan.

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49 Comments
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    Mute Dave Hogan
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    Jul 20th 2017, 9:16 PM

    Humans has no respect for each other, animals have no chance.

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    Mute Coner Willis
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    Jul 20th 2017, 9:18 PM

    There should be no such thing as a “legal trophy hunt”. Shooting a large animal with a sniper rifle isen’t even really difficult so these people clearly just get pleasure from the act of killing itself and in my opinion should be locked up as that mindset is dangerous to other people whatever about anything else.

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    Mute james connolly
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    Jul 20th 2017, 9:23 PM

    @Coner Willis: people get great pleasure from catching fish they dont eat either. The fish are caught for pure sport in a vast majority of cases. Is that not the exact same?

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    Mute Paul Whelan
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    Jul 20th 2017, 9:27 PM

    @james connolly: if the fish swims away after been handled carefully, then yes there is a difference.

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    Mute Keith Healy
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    Jul 20th 2017, 9:27 PM

    @james connolly: yeah but they are usually thrown back in if not eaten. You can’t unshoot something

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    Mute David Stapleton
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    Jul 20th 2017, 9:29 PM

    @james connolly: The difference is that people doing it for sport generally free the fish afterward. If you are going to make a comparison, at least try to make a better one.

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    Mute Paul Whelan
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    Jul 20th 2017, 9:30 PM

    @james connolly: if the fish swims away unharmed after been handled carefully then there is a difference, ie nothing dies.

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    Mute The Risen
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    Jul 20th 2017, 9:36 PM

    Lads, make allowances for James. The only thing he fishes for is reactions to his inflammatory comments.

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    Mute Mary Murphy
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    Jul 20th 2017, 10:08 PM

    @james connolly: Endangered majestic animals are not fish you fool

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    Mute Breandán Ó hEidhin
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    Jul 21st 2017, 1:08 AM

    @Coner Willis: Some of these legal trophy hunts raise lots of money for wildlife conservation policies. Also if you think shooting wild animals with a rifle is easy, you know very little about hunting.

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    Mute Pheilum Shannon
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    Jul 21st 2017, 7:06 AM

    @Mary Murphy: every life is sacred, be it a fish or a lion. The fact that humans think it is OK to kill any animal, for food, sport or otherwise is the issue here. Life on this planet would thrive if humans were gone. Instead, we are at crisis point, and future generations won’t even know what wildlife is if we continue on this path of destruction, as there will be none left.

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    Mute Coner Willis
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    Jul 20th 2017, 9:35 PM

    @sean o dubhgail: Surely there are better ways of getting money than allowing people to do the exact thing that the rangers dedicate their time to trying to prevent!!!

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    Mute Kieran Mc Donnell
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    Jul 20th 2017, 9:39 PM

    So sad

    70
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    Mute Coner Willis
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    Jul 20th 2017, 9:43 PM

    @acedeuce: Your saying hunting dear is different to hunting tigers? For one thing there is usually tracking or some level of difficulty involved in hunting deer. Deer can also be eaten. There are also millions of dear and barely over a thousand tigers left in the wild. I don’t like hunting of any form but the challenge involved in hunting deer and the possibility that you can eat it give people a reason for hunting deer other than the pure pleasure of killing an animal. However spending tens of thousands to go to a remote part of the world just so you can lure a lion out into a clearing and shooting it close up just so you can put its head on your wall is clearly just done by people who get a power thrill by killing animals that are more powerful than they are.

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    Mute Acedeuce
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    Jul 20th 2017, 10:11 PM

    @Coner Willis: I agree with you.. hence my point.. Hunting lion’s is completely different to hunting deer, I personally don’t agree with hunting unless your doing it for a source of food or whatever.. But I’d much rather have people with a sick obsession for kiling animals for the sake of killing and pinning skulls on walls hunting deer instead of lion’s and other animals who hold a higher importance in the animal kingdom and are higher up in the food chain and more importantly who are endangered

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    Mute sean o'dhubhghaill
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    Jul 20th 2017, 9:30 PM

    Licenced ‘Trophy Hunts’ can bring in around US$50000 per kill. That is an INCREDIBLE source of income for a National Park in Zimbabwe, where average income for park rangers is the equivalent of about US$500 per annum. So before everybody kicks off in indignation, consider that that 1 kill could keep the entire national park funded and protected for a year. If those park rangers, funded by that one kill, are not there protecting the rest of the prides then there is a very good chance that ALL the lions will be killed by poachers.

    39
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    Mute Barney r
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    Jul 20th 2017, 9:40 PM

    After Mugabe takes his cut and his officials at each level, how much do you think is left to help the park or wildlife?

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    Mute Sean
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    Jul 22nd 2017, 12:59 AM

    @sean o’dhubhghaill: that may be true but if they hunted people in the same way at 50000 dollars to shoot a living person would you still feel that the revenue was more important than the morality?

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    Mute james connolly
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    Jul 20th 2017, 9:16 PM

    The ‘what can I be outraged by today’ gang have their fix surely with this one. twitter will melt with all the lion experts…. yawn!

    31
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    Mute Nellie Oneill
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    Jul 20th 2017, 9:18 PM

    @james connolly: some might decide to hunt you.

    116
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    Mute Acedeuce
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    Jul 20th 2017, 9:21 PM

    @james connolly: what do mean “lion experts” they’re an endangered species.. The world would be very boring place without ferocious majestic animals like this around..

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    Mute james connolly
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    Jul 20th 2017, 9:25 PM

    @Acedeuce: every tom dick and harry with an internet connection will suddenly become an expert. its how twitter works….

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    Mute Dave Murray
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    Jul 20th 2017, 9:30 PM

    @james connolly: And expert on what? What are you talking about?

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    Mute Acedeuce
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    Jul 20th 2017, 9:30 PM

    @james connolly: you don’t have to be a twitter expert to realise that trophy hunting animals like lion’s tigers rhino’s etc is pure barbaric.. You don’t have to be an expert.. You just have to have a brain

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    Mute Eamonn coughlan
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    Jul 20th 2017, 9:32 PM

    @james connolly: no fear a dumbass like you would become an expert in anything, Internet or no internet!

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    Mute Mary Murphy
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    Jul 20th 2017, 10:10 PM

    @Dave Murray: Himself I think he’s rabbiting on about. Otherwise he’s making no sense

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    Mute Quentin Moriarty
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    Jul 21st 2017, 12:13 AM

    Another step towards the extinction of the species

    Being a juvenile he would have had plenty of opportunities to breed with the lionesses of a pride eventually ousting an older male

    Oh well

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    Mute Coner Willis
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    Jul 20th 2017, 9:30 PM

    @james Connolly: I’m no fan of fishing either and in some ways there is no difference but I gather there are other attractions to it. Also most people do eat the fish they kill.

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    Mute Acedeuce
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    Jul 20th 2017, 9:34 PM

    @Coner Willis: fish is a sustainable source of food.. And people who fish purely for the sport generally tend to throw them back.. You can compare fishing with people hunting lion’s.. Same way you can’t compare people hunting deer and people hunting tigers.. It’s completely different imo

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    Mute Leroy
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    Jul 20th 2017, 11:12 PM

    @Acedeuce: Fishing is about as sustainable as my marriage

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    Mute Pheilum Shannon
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    Jul 21st 2017, 7:13 AM

    @Acedeuce: so nice of the fishing enthusiasts to throw the fish back after sticking a hook through their jaw and rearranging their face. Imagine a hook coming down and pulling you out of your world, only to be taken into the hands of a giant who proceeds to unhook you, then throw you back. It’s a nightmare but we somehow feel that it’s OK. Humanity has lost its way, in my humble opinion.

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    Mute Dominick Lodola
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    Jul 20th 2017, 10:38 PM

    Sad people on this earth!!!

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    Mute Alois Irlmaier
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    Jul 20th 2017, 11:04 PM

    @Dominick Lodola: Did you mean to say down right evil?

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    Mute Randal McNally
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    Jul 21st 2017, 1:19 AM

    Pity they didn’t shoot Mugabe

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    Mute Ban Bloodsports
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    Jul 20th 2017, 11:05 PM

    These ruthless thugs with plenty of money have no compassion. Greedy, ignorant thrill seekers. Have a look at this “high quality person” as his father, Donald Trump’ calls him – Donald Trump Jnr. standing, grinning as he stands beside the body of a dead elephant he shot for “fun” during a trophy hunt. This has to be the most sickening image – evil in the extreme. Evil walks the world in the guise of Donald Trump Jnr and many more like him. https://www.google.ie/search?q=images+for+eric+trump+with+elephant’s+severed+tail&tbm=isch&imgil=0-Pr59I9OhzRJM%253A%253B7-BE_1_qxf0wCM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.nydailynews.com%25252Fnews%25252Fpolitics%25252Fpics-rump-adult-sons-hunting-game-africa-resurface-article-1.2308107&source=iu&pf=m&fir=0-Pr59I9OhzRJM%253A%252C7-BE_1_qxf0wCM%252C_&usg=__AfION0Yqpjg5yZVA4WlOcH6Vr7A%3D&biw=1200&bih=549&ved=0ahUKEwiA6NqG7ZjVAhWEJlAKHSR1CbYQyjcIPQ&ei=9yZxWcCQIYTNwAKk6qWwCw#imgrc=0-Pr59I9OhzRJM:&spf=1500587798734

    21
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    Mute Emmet Dillane
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    Jul 20th 2017, 11:29 PM

    @Ban Bloodsports:
    Any Russian links to the buffalo yet?

    7
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    Mute Ronan McKeon
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    Jul 21st 2017, 9:02 AM

    While this is quite sad, the Rhino is facing extinction in the very near future. 13 Rhino were poached in 2 days in South Africa recently. Political corruption to the highest levels is facilitating this slaughter.
    Where are the stories on this?
    An ancient and gentle animal is being hunted for the equivalent of fingernail keratin and the western media is completely silent on it.

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    Mute John Cotter
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    Jul 20th 2017, 9:14 PM

    Dirty rotten b@$t@rd$

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    Mute Quentin Moriarty
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    Jul 21st 2017, 12:10 AM

    @John Cotter: if they changed the rules to only allow the hunter be armed with a crude bow and arrow and a knife how many would be frothing at the mouth to take part

    Fair contest !

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    Mute Katie Wrest
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    Jul 20th 2017, 10:35 PM
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    Mute Eoghan Stynes
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    Jul 20th 2017, 10:44 PM

    @Katie Wrest: …

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    Mute Coner Willis
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    Jul 20th 2017, 10:36 PM

    @acedeuce: I misread your first comment. Apologies!

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    Mute Steven Moens
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    Jul 21st 2017, 10:33 AM

    I hunt, I regularly shoot rabbits, wood pigeons, ducks, pheasant and if I’m really lucky I fill the freezer with venison. To me it doesn’t make sense to shoot a lion in his prime unless he’s an absolute terror on livestock. I understand the logic behind top dollar trophy hunts being used to finance conservation work. Personally I wouldn’t hunt anything facing extinction as it’s completely wrong in my opinion. On the other hand if could afford it I’d be away on an African buffalo hunt tomorrow. Plentiful, edible and probably a more challenging and dangerous animal to hunt than any big cat.

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    Mute Marie Byrne
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    Jul 21st 2017, 1:12 AM

    “Hunters” who are these guys kidding – high velocity weapon from a distance chicken shits sad to see such majestic animals taken out by morons

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    Mute Trevor croft
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    Jul 21st 2017, 8:00 AM

    Murdering horrible bast**ds

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    Mute Adrian
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    Jul 21st 2017, 8:41 AM

    Beautiful creature so majestic so proud this is why its king of all…

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    Mute Joe oshaughnessy
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    Jul 21st 2017, 7:27 AM

    What’s going on with the world today honestly is there no law anymore can people just do as they wish and get away with it??

    It certainly seems that way to me.

    They don’t seem to have any regard for law anymore and what’s worse is the fact that the law doesn’t care.

    What is life all about, where is the respect we once had for law gone?.

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    Mute Steven Moens
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    Jul 21st 2017, 10:45 AM

    @Joe oshaughnessy: The problem is that the hunting of rare animals is not illegal in some jurisdictions that are maybe not as scrupulous when it comes to wildlife protection compared to let’s say Europe. We have developed a culture where protection and hunting is not mutually exclusive and regulations are generally very well adhered to. The same probably can’t be said for societies suffering from cleptocratic dictatorships.

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