Sorry I lost the URL, but this story is all over the news.

"Cecil was a beloved, person-friendly lion recognisable because of his large size and distinctive black mane that lived on a protected reserve, Hwange National Park in. Zimbabwe's largest game reserve.  He was lured away from the preserve by an American dentist, Walter James Palmer and his guides. The dentist paid $50,000 to kill big game which is known as a ''canned'' hunt.

Cecil was shot at night by Palmer with a bow and arrow. He was wounded and they did not find him until 40 hours later when they finished him off with a bullet. Cecil was collared with a GPS device to track him for scientific purposes by UK-based Oxford University to study lion conservation.  Palmer and the guides took the collar and tried to destroy it and failed. Cecil was skinned and beheaded. The "'trophies'" have not been found. Palmer said they didn't know he was collared and on protected land. He has been arrested before in the U.S. for poaching and for lying to authorities. 

Cecil had  two prides containing six lionesses and 12 cubs along with another lion, Jericho

The six cubs of Cecil will now be killed by the new male lion in the pride  in order to encourage the lionesses to mate with him.

"That's how it works... it's in the wild. It's nature taking its course," said a reserve spokesman."


Not much sadder than that.......