U.S. Doctor Kills Lion In Second Incident: Zimbabwe Seeks Extradition Of First Lion Killer
“U.S. doctor kills lion” has become a recurrent phrase for Zimbabwe authorities who have revealed that another American doctor illegally killed a lion, this time in a bow-hunting expedition last April.
As Zimbabwe seeks the extradition of dentist Walter Palmer, 55, for killing beloved big cat Cecil on July 1, investigators are considering a second offender, gynecological oncologist Jan Casimir Seski, 68, for bagging a lion without official approval over four months ago.
Seski, director of the Center for Bloodless Medicine and Surgery at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, stands accused by Zimbabwe’s National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority of killing a lion with a bow and arrow near Hwange National Park, an area where such activity is forbidden, according to ABC News.
As with Palmer’s case, Zimbabwe has gone so far as to arrest whoever helped in the illegal hunt, in this second instance, landowner Headman Sibanda. While cooperating with the arresting officers in investigating Seski, Sibanda said that the U.S. doctor had all the proper documentation in place for kills involving any lion on the land in question.
According to the New York Post, Sibanda, who operates Nyala Safaris, owns the land where the lion was killed, outside the Hwange National Park. In a similar scenario, Palmer, who faces international rebuke for killing Cecil the lion, had his own designated landowner, Honest Ndlovu, providing the location for the hunt outside of Hwange Park.
Sibanda contended that Seski did not break any laws, but rather, acted in good faith when he hunted down the lion with a bow and arrow, the New York Post reported. The landowner made a statement about his client.
“He is being treated as if he is some criminal. He is an honest man who came into this country to give us business. He doesn’t deserve all this attention and harassment. He should be allowed to have a good night’s sleep because his conscience should be clear. Everything was done above board.”
Despite the controversy starting to build up around him, Seski has those defending his character. Among them is Stewart Dorrington, operator of Melorani Safaris and owner of a game reserve in South Africa where Seski hunted in 2012. In a quote provided by Pittsburgh’s Action News 4, Dorrington described Seski as a perfect gentleman, and from their time together, offered the following characterization.
“He was a great guy. Everything he did was perfectly legal and aboveboard and a great help to our conservation efforts.”
Dorrington has closed down his Facebook page because of people posting threatening comments, Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 reported. Online sentiment seems stacked against any U.S. doctor who kills a lion.
[Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images]
