Save the Lions - In Memory of Cecil
There has been global outrage over the senseless killing of Cecil. As a result, the combination of the media frenzy created by Cecil's death, requests from global and local media organizations for the video and photos we took in August 2014 in Hwange National Park and the rush to respond to getting a fundraiser for donations started - "Save The Lions - In Memory of Cecil" has been established.
Save the Lions - In Memory of Cecil is a crowd funding effort that will donate 100% of any monies received directly to WildCru, the group who tagged Cecil and other lions, tracking their activities in Hwange National Park. Without the collar put in place by WildCru, investigators would not have known that Cecil had been lured/baited away from the safety of the park and may never have found his body. WildCru was also the suggested recipient for donations made by Jimmy Kimmel during his opening monologue on his July 28, 2015 broadcast.
In addition to WildCru, "Save the Lions - In Memory of Cecil" is in discussions with Zimbabwe based LION CONSERVATION & WILDLIFE FUND (LCWF), which was in the process of creating a non-profit entity before Cecil's death.
Until LCWF finalizes the creation of their non-profit, we will designate funds to WildCru.
Who is WildCru? http://www.wildcru.org
Who is LCWF?
Hwange National Park is an important wildlife epicenter as well as an important overflow source of wildlife for adjoining community areas, parks like the Matetsi, Kazuma Pan National Park and further afield. As evidenced by the recent killing of an iconic lion named Cecil, Hwange National Park and its surrounding wilderness areas have major sustainability hurdles to overcome. The killing of Cecil is a symptom of a greater problem that needs serious attention before this famous wildlife region is depleted of its wildlife resources and the park’s foreign exchange earning & job creating potential are nullified.
The focus of this initiative is to save Hwange’s key wildlife drawcards and in particular to conserve the wildlife that frequents and traverses Hwange’s unfenced boundary areas before it becomes depleted and it’s too late.
Wildlife numbers around the unfenced boundaries of many of Zimbabwe’s national parks have dropped drastically as a result of shrinking habitats and increasingly unsustainable hunting quotas. Hunting along Hwange’s park boundary is no longer an effective conservation tool as it is now contributing to the annihilation of wildlife around its periphery, thus in turn negatively impacting the heart of the park, while contributing very little to country’s fiscus, economy and jobs. Hunting today employs relatively few people (and only employs them seasonally) whilst not contributing to infrastructure development and community upliftment relative to the photo-safari industry and relative to the damage it causes.
We will keep a tally of the funds raised and an accounting of where the funds are being distributed on Cecil's Facebook page and website CecilTheLion.org .
Who are we?
Pamela Robinson is a tour operator specializing in unique and customized culturally enriching travel experiences. Mark Robinson, her husband is a commercial real estate broker. Both live in California and are avid travelers and photographers. In August of 2014, during a trip to Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa they were fortunate enough to spend time with Cecil and his pride, photographing and videoing the lions.
Pamela’s video of Cecil walking from his lair to the Land Cruiser and then off into the sunset, while Mark is seen from behind taking photos at close range, has become the most viewed and iconic of all the Cecil videos. It has been featured on virtually every major news network and website’s coverage of Cecil’s death. Mark’s photos of Cecil from this trip often accompany the videos.
When you consider the global outrage over Cecil’s death, you can imagine how much that is compounded for those of us who were blessed enough to spend time with him, to be so close to him that you could hear him breathing, to watch him run and play with the females of the pride, his cubs, to see him with Jericho, the other old-timer who teamed with Cecil to run off their younger rival. The rage and devastation we felt at the horror of his killing created a drive to do SOMETHING! ANYTHING!
That drive is why you are here reading this.
That drive is why we are bold enough to ask anyone touched by the story of Cecil to do something, too.
Make a donation; it will get to the right place - 100% of it. Buy a T-Shirt , 100% of the proceeds will go towards making Zimbabwe a safer place for the lions too. Leave a comment on Cecil’s Facebook page or for those in the US go to www.house.org or www.senate.org and contact your representations to tell them to ban the import of trophy hunt kills. Contact your airline and tell them to stop the transport of trophy kills. We were looking at pictures of Cecil on our flight home while those in the row in front of us were showing off photos of the lion they killed, which was likely in the cargo hold below. $20 helps protect the lions Cecil left behind. $200 helps more. Being on this page says you care... or want to know who we are. Whatever you chose to do or not do, thank you for stopping by.
Thank you for your generosity and your expressions of concern for these beautiful animals.
#CecilLives as long as we want him to.
