On August 24 a lion mauled a guide to death during a “walking safari” in the same Zimbabwe park where Cecil the Lion lived.
Camp Hwange, the company for whom the safari was being conducted, said guide Quinn Swales walked with a group of tourists when the lion attacked.
Camp Hwange posted the following announcement to Facebook:
It is with deep regret and great sadness that we are able to confirm the death of Quinn Swales, a Camp Hwange Professional Guide, who was fatally mauled by a male lion whilst out on a walking safari this morning.
Quinn, a fully qualified and experienced Zimbabwe Professional Guide, was leading a group of Camp Hwange guests on a photographic walking safari. He was tracking lions early [on the morning of August 24], when a Male Lion unexpectedly charged. We can confirm that Quinn did everything he could to successfully protect his guests and ensure their safety, and that no guests were injured in the incident. Unfortunately, Quinn passed away…as result of the injuries sustained at the scene.
It is interesting to note that in the middle of the animal rights outcry that followed news of the death of Cecil the Lion, Zimbabwean Goodwell Nzou wrote a column in The New York Times stating his inability to understand Americans’ sorrow. After all, he stressed, Zimbabwean’s view lions as “objects of terror.”
Nzou wrote: “[Do] all those Americans signing petitions [against lion hunting] understand that lions kill people? That all the talk about Cecil being ‘beloved’ or a ‘local favorite’ was media hype? Did Jimmy Kimmel choke up because Cecil was murdered or because he confused him with Simba from ‘The Lion King’?”
