The thrill kill of Cecil the lion (pictured) for sport evoked worldwide public outrage and condemnation. Cecil thought he was safe living in a national park in Zimbabwe where he was supposed to be protected from hunters and poachers. Cecil was a tourist favourite and was used to all the attention which ultimately proved to be the king’s downfall when he was tempted with a carcass to cross over into an adjoining hunting ground where he was killed by American dentist Walter Palmer (pictured left). No doubt Cecil was too engrossed in devouring the bloody lure to see the hunter cowardly sneak up, and shoot him from just metres away with an arrow. It should have been a kill shot, but Cecil painfully limped off into the bush where he was tracked down some hours later, and dispatched with a bullet through his lion heart. It took the death of Cecil to put wildlife conservation back on the front page where it rightfully belongs. Justice should have prevailed but a year after Cecil’s senseless death hunters like Walter Palmer are still able to take their trophies home to the US to mount on the wall. Game hunters are continuing to exploit a loophole in the law which states that as long as they can show they are contributing to wildlife conservation they can bring the carcasses home. Hunters can obtain permits from the US Fish and Wildlife Service if they can show any trip they make will “enhance the survival” of a species, and all that takes is making a small donation to a local conservation program. Cecil will be remembered as a martyr who died for the wildlife conservation cause. The sad truth is that Cecil will do more in death for wildlife conservation than he could ever have achieved in his lifetime. Cecil will be lionized because his cruel and unnecessary death was brought to the immediate attention of the press unlike so many other wildlife atrocities which slip through the cracks, and never see the light of day in the media. The Zimbabwean Government decided not to press charges against Walter Palmer because it found that Cecil was shot just outside the protective boundaries of a national park, and therefore the dentist couldn't be prosecuted. The reality is that the law in some countries will always side with game hunters when they pay big money for the right to kill wildlife.