AFP/Harare

Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe yesterday criticised the killing of Cecil the Lion, saying the animal was a key part of the country’s heritage.
“Our wildlife, all our animals, belong to us. They should not be shot with a gun or with an arrow,” Mugabe told thousands who gathered at a shrine on the oustkirts of the capital Harare to commemorate Heroes’ Day.
“Even Cecil the lion is yours. He is dead. He was yours to protect and he (was) there to protect you,” said the ageing president, who is often the target of condemnation over the country’s human rights record.
Cecil was killed in early July by American dentist Walter Palmer who paid a local safari company owner $55,000 to shoot the beast with a bow and arrow.
The hunt provoked worldwide outrage when it emerged that Cecil was a well-known attraction among visitors to Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park - and was wearing a tracking collar as part of an Oxford University research project.
The local guide Theo Bronkhorst was arrested and charged with failure to prevent an illegal hunt.  He was granted $1,000 bail pending his trial on September 28.
Mugabe yesterday lashed out at foreigners he said were destroying his country’s wildlife and other natural resources.
“There are vandals who come from all over. Of course some may be just ordinary visitors but others want to vandalise, to irregularly and illegally acquire part of these resources.”
Palmer, an experienced trophy hunter, became the target of vicious abuse and death threats over Cecil’s killing, and went into hiding after demonstrations outside his dental practice.
He apologised for killing Cecil, known by his distinctive black mane, but blamed local guides for misleading him.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwean wildlife authorities yesterday lifted restrictions on hunting imposed last week.
Announcing the lifting of the ban, Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority said in a statement: “The suspension of wildlife hunting in all other areas outside the parks estate has been lifted with immediate effect.”
Some restrictions on big game hunting remain, however.
All lion, leopard and elephant hunts will require written confirmation from the head of the parks authority and park staff must accompany each hunt.
Meanwhile, individuals involved in illegal hunting activities would be “ banned from hunting for life as they tarnish the image of the hunting industry and their actions border on economic sabotage,” the statement said.
Since the news of Cecil’s killing broke, Zimbabwean officials have named another American alleged to have taken part in an illegal lion kill in the country.
A safari organiser has been arrested in connection with that hunt, which took place in April.
Some in Zimbabwe have questioned the keen international media interest in the Cecil story, noting that few in the country had heard of the animal before he was killed and that ordinary people are often killed by lions and other wild animals - without their deaths causing a global ruckus.