![\"Sick](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0_Screenshot-2025-07-30-at-095126JPG.jpg\")
Sick Trophy hunters pose with Blondie (Image: Facebook)<\/p>\nBlondie, the five-year-old lion, had been fitted with a GPS collar by researchers from Oxford’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit just three months ago to help support conservation<\/p>\n
13:00, 03 Aug 2025Updated 13:22, 03 Aug 2025<\/p>\n
Sick Trophy hunters pose with Blondie (Image: Facebook)<\/p>\n
A “beloved” lion, monitored by the University of Oxford, has been tragically shot dead by heartless trophy hunters<\/a> who shelled out \u00a335,000 to slay the majestic creature.<\/p>\n Blondie, the five-year-old lion, had been fitted with a GPS collar by researchers from Oxford’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit just three months ago to help support conservation.<\/a><\/p>\n Experts had planned to track Blondie and his pride of 10 cubs and three adult females as part of long-term research. However, campaigners say the lion was coaxed by trophy hunters who had paid at least \u00a335,000 for the kill. It comes after a man dies after wife runs him over in car park in ‘tragic accident’<\/a>.<\/p>\n Blondie was tragically killed just outside Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe, on June 29. Simon Espley, CEO of safari experts Africa Geographic, which sponsored the collar, said his organisation was “dismayed and angered”.<\/p>\n READ MORE: UK heatwave forecast as maps reveal exact date 39C heat plume to scorch country<\/a>READ MORE: Waiter sat down to eat cheese during his break, moments later he was dying<\/a> “That Blondie’s prominent collar did not prevent him from being offered to a hunting client, confirms the stark reality that no lion is safe from trophy hunting guns,” he said.<\/p>\n “He was a breeding male in his prime, making a mockery of the ethics that ZPGA [Zimbabwe Professional Guides Association] regularly espouses and the repeated claims that trophy hunters only target old, non-breeding males.”<\/p>\n Africa Geographic said the killing will cause “turmoil for the pride, with a high likelihood that incoming rival males will take his youngest cubs”.<\/p>\n A sickening photograph shows the trophy hunters kneeling down beside Blondie’s body. The beast was just five years old and was the last known descendant of the Somadada pride.<\/p>\n Roar Wildlife News said: “Another beloved lion, another shattered pride, another trophy just for someone’s wall.<\/p>\n “Blondie was a striking lion and one of Hwange’s most recognisable figures and was gunned down in the prime of his life after being lured out from a safe prohibited hunting area.<\/p>\n![\"Blondie\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0_Screenshot-2025-07-30-at-094939JPG.jpg\")
Blondie was just five-years-old(Image: Searching for Spots)<\/p>\n