Wildlife activists petition Mugabe over spot hunting

A group of wildlife activists has petitioned President Robert Mugabe to reverse the legalization of game hunting "for sport" as a way of preventing the ongoing killing of endangered species by hunters.

The group, domiciled in Brazil, pleaded with Mugabe to stop legalized game hunting stating that in Europe, the sport had "accompanied not only the modern industrialized devastation of European land, but also the imperialist expansion and plunder of the Americas and Africa".

"The contemporary industry of hunting tourism and trade in animal lives is just a deplorable colonial legacy, inappropriate to the present era," the group said in a petition signed by its president Sônia Peralli Fonseca.

The petition comes after an iconic lion in Hwange, Cecil, was allegedly lured out of the Hwange National Park and killed by an American trophy hunter with the assistance of local professional hunters who arranged for all legal licences.

The issue has caught international attention with widespread public condemnation.