[CAT] "South African president laughs off uproar over killing of Cecil the lion"

[rfmcdonald]

Geoffrey York of The Globe and Mail reported about how the Cecil the Lion scandal reverberates in South Africa.

With their $650-million hunting industry now jeopardized by a global uproar over the killing of Cecil the lion, South African politicians are staunchly defending the industry, but hunters themselves are calling for major reforms to salvage their battered image.

South African President Jacob Zuma laughed off the controversy on Tuesday, dismissing questions about whether the industry’s rules should be tightened after the furor over Cecil. “I think it’s just an incident,” he told journalists. “The hunter did not know Cecil was so popular. … I don’t think it’s a matter we can debate that much.”

Professional hunters, however, are increasingly worried about the damage to their reputation from controversial tactics that include the “diesel stalking” of lions in off-road vehicles and the shooting of domesticated captive-bred lions on “canned hunting” farms.

The furor over Cecil has intensified the calls for reform. The industry knows that it could be endangered by worldwide revulsion over Cecil’s killing. Many airlines have already announced a ban on the transportation of hunting trophies, although South African Airways has lifted its own ban on the practice.