Hobetere Lion Shot by Hunters

So many visitors to the Hobatere Lodge had taken so many photos of Xpl-20 the ‘Old Boy’, the alpha lion of the resident pride. He was radio-collared and monitored for years by Dr. Flip Stander of Desert Lion Conservation. He was not a problem lion, and did not leave the Hobatere Concession. Dieter took amazing photos of him on 03.10.10. He was shot on 06.10.10 after he could have been lured out of his safe haven. The hunting concessionaire Peter Thormählen, of Thormählen and Cochran Safaris, said that a radio-collar on a lion does not make him a holy animal. He had the permit to shoot 2 lion. This is now the third radio-collared alpha desert lion shot since November 2009, after the killing of Xpl-3 ‘Adolf’, and the illegal hunting of Xpl-44 ‘Leonardo’. According to Dr. Flip Stander this is a major blow to the lion population and for tourism in Namibia.