{"id":114908,"date":"2025-08-03T06:12:15","date_gmt":"2025-08-03T06:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/114908\/"},"modified":"2025-08-03T06:12:15","modified_gmt":"2025-08-03T06:12:15","slug":"rage-over-new-trophy-hunting-slaying-of-blondie-the-lion-echoes-cecil-the-lion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/114908\/","title":{"rendered":"Rage Over New Trophy Hunting Slaying of Blondie the Lion Echoes Cecil the Lion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Outrage has erupted after a trophy hunter killed a lion named Blondie after allegedly luring it out of a wildlife reserve.<\/p>\n

Blondie was part of an Oxford University study, and Africa Geographic, the safari company that sponsored Blondie\u2019s tracking collar, claims that the 5-year-old male lion was coaxed with bait into a hunting area over a period of weeks in June.<\/p>\n

\"Lion.\"Lions are one of the animals targeted by big-game trophy hunters. Eva Manez\/REUTERS <\/p>\n

The company also posted<\/a> a photo to Facebook that they say shows the hunter and his guides standing over the lion\u2019s carcass.<\/p>\n

Africa Geographic CEO Simon Espley told<\/a> the Associated Press that the killing made \u201ca mockery of the ethics\u201d that hunters say they hold, as Blondie was a breeding male in his prime with a visible collar.<\/p>\n

\"BlondieAfrica Geographic posted a photo that they say shows the Blondie\u2019s carcass and the hunter who killed him. Facebook\/Africa Geographic <\/p>\n

\u201cThat Blondie\u2019s 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,\u201d Espley said.<\/p>\n

Tinashe Farawo, a spokesperson for Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, defended the slaying in a statement to the AP.<\/p>\n

He said that he is not aware of evidence that Blondie was lured but added that there \u201cis nothing unethical or illegal about that for anyone who knows how lions are hunted. This is how people hunt.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ProtestsThe killing of Cecil the lion sparked protests in 2015. Adam Bettcher\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

\u201cOur rangers were present,\u201d Farawo said. \u201cAll paperwork was in order. Collars are for research purposes, but they don\u2019t make the animal immune to hunting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Farawo declined to reveal the hunter\u2019s identity to the Associated Press, and while there has been speculation<\/a> about the person\u2019s identity, it remains unconfirmed.<\/p>\n

While hunting lions has been banned in some African nations, it remains legal in Zimbabwe. Lions are classified as a vulnerable species, with just 20,000 remaining in Africa.<\/p>\n

Blondie\u2019s death echoes the slaying of Cecil<\/a>, a lion from the same reserve in Zimbabwe, who was lured away and killed by an American hunter almost exactly 10 years earlier.<\/p>\n

\"WalterWalter Palmer, the Minnesota dentist who killed Cecil the lion, was the target of protests and media attention in 2015. Eric Miller\/Reuters <\/p>\n

The killing of Cecil ignited fury and protests against the hunter behind it\u2014Minnesota dentist Walter Palmer\u2014and brought attention to the issue of big game trophy hunting.<\/p>\n

Palmer reportedly paid $50,000 to his guides to help give him the opportunity to kill Cecil, which he did using a bow and arrow.<\/p>\n

After the outcry, Palmer expressed regret.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I had known this lion had a name and was important to the country or a study, obviously I wouldn\u2019t have taken it,\u201d he said<\/a>. \u201cNobody in our hunting party knew before or after the name of this lion.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Outrage has erupted after a trophy hunter killed a lion named Blondie after allegedly luring it out of…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":114909,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[46491,68783,159,67,132,68,837,2238],"class_list":{"0":"post-114908","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-hunting","9":"tag-lion","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us","14":"tag-wildlife","15":"tag-zimbabwe"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114963358916640863","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}