Three lions were discovered dead in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe, with their heads and paws removed.
The Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks) suspects that the incident is linked to poaching for ritual purposes.
According to ZimParks, the lions were shot on Monday at Nyamandlovu Pan, near Hwange Main Camp, before being beheaded and having their paws cut off.
ZimParks spokesperson Tinashe Farawo stated that the lions were killed using a heavy-calibre rifle. Said Farawo:
We are investigating a suspected case of lions poaching in Hwange, the suspects used a heavy calibre rifle before they chopped the heads and feet of the lions.
Occasionally in Zimbabwe, lions kill people, often with little public condemnation. In contrast, when humans kill lions, it sparks outrage among conservationists both locally and globally.
In 2015, there was widespread condemnation when Cecil the Lion, one of the country’s most famous big cats, was lured with an elephant carcass and subsequently hunted.
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the global population of wild African lions has drastically declined to approximately 23,000, down from around 200,000 at the start of the last century.
In Zimbabwe, the lion population is estimated to be around 2,000.
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