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 In Harare's first official comments since Cecil's killing grabbed
world headlines this week, Muchinguri said the Prosecutor General
had already started the process to have 55-year-old Walter Palmer
extradited from the United States.
Muchinguri, a 91-year-old veteran from President Robert Mugabe's
ruling ZANU-PF party, described Cecil - a black-maned lion
well-known to foreign tourists in the Hwange National Park - as an
"iconic attraction".
"The illegal killing was deliberate," she told a news conference.
"We are appealing to the responsible authorities for his extradition
to Zimbabwe so that he can be held accountable for his illegal
actions."
Palmer has admitted killing the 13-year-old predator, who was fitted
with a GPS collar as part of an Oxford University study, but said in
a statement he had hired professional guides and believed all the
necessary hunting permits were in order.
He has not been sighted since his identity was revealed this week by
Zimbabwean conservationists.
Muchinguri also said Palmer's use of a bow and arrow to kill the
lion, who is said to have been lured out of the national park with
bait before being shot, was in contravention of Zimbabwean hunting
regulations.
Palmer, a life-long big game hunter, returned to the United States
before the authorities were aware of the controversy.
"It was too late to apprehend the foreign poacher because he had
already absconded to his country of origin," Muchinguri said.
Social media in the United States and Europe have exploded in
outrage and vitriol against Palmer, and the White House said on
Thursday it would review a public petition of more than 100,000
signatures to have him extradited.
Under a 1998 treaty between the two countries - which have not
enjoyed cordial relations in the latter stages of Mugabe's 36 years
in charge - a person can be extradited if they are accused of an
offence that carries more than a year in prison.
In Zimbabwe, the illegal killing of a lion is punishable by a
mandatory fine of $20,000 and up to 10 years in prison.
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LIMITED LION HUNTING
As with many African countries, Zimbabwe issues annual hunting
permits for big game such as elephant, buffalo and lion, arguing
that the revenues generated can be used for wider wildlife
conservation.
Last year, the southern African nation which is still recovering
from billion-percent hyperinflation a decade ago, earned $45 million
from hunting, Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority head
Edison Chadziya told reporters.
Zimbabwe had an estimated 2,000 lions on private and
government-owned reserves and issued hunting quotas of 50-70 lions
every year, he added.
Theo Bronkhorst, a Zimbabwean professional hunter who worked with
Palmer, was charged this week with failing to prevent Palmer from
unlawfully killing Cecil.
The shooting is also being investigated by the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service to see if it was part of a conspiracy to violate
U.S. laws against illegal wildlife trading, a source close to the
case told Reuters on Thursday.
Despite the global media coverage of Cecil's killing, the big cat's
untimely demise has gone largely unnoticed in Zimbabwe, where
average annual income is just over $1,000 and unemployment is higher
than 80 percent.
(Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Ed Cropley and Giles
Elgood)
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