A couple of months ago, people were enraged by reports of a 36-year-old Texas millionaire, Corey Knowlton who shot and killed a rare black rhino in Namibia. Now, another unfortunate story of a hunter killing an animal for unnecessary egotistical gains has surfaced and needless to say, everyone is outraged.

The prey this time is a famed 13-year-old lion, Cecil. The Zimbabwe Parks Wildlife Management Authority is currently investigating the whereabouts of the unknown hunter.

The tourist visited Zimbabwe to kill one of Africa’s most famed lions. The hunter, who is believed to be from Spain, apparently paid a safari owner $55,000 for the opportunity. He lured Cecil out of the national park with food and shot him with a crossbow. He died 40 minutes later when the hunter did the unthinkable.

As if the cowardly shooting wasn’t bad enough, it is reported that the hunter stripped Cecil of his skin and decapitated him. The death is being described as a tragedy and loss by the chairman of Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, Johnny Rodrigues.

IMAGE SOURCE: MASHABLE

Cecil was a famous resident of the Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe. He is also believed to be a part of a research project conducted by Oxford University.

Sadly, these types of killings are more frequent than we realize. According to the IDA, In Defense of Animals, each year trophy hunters kill thousands of exotic wild animals. Most of the killings take place in Africa and the hunters usually like the biggest and rarest of animals. All for what?

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