Cecil the lion suffered ‘incredible cruelty' for 10 hours after he was shot by big-game hunter

The world erupted in outrage when a much-loved Zimbabwean lion, Cecil, was baited outside a park and killed by dentist Walter Palmer in 2015.

Cecil the lion was lured out of Hwange National Park area and shot with a bow and arrow, and died much later.

In fact, it’s likely that the animal suffered ‘incredible cruelty’ for at least ten hours, the author of a new book has said.

Dr. Andrew Loveridge author of Lion Hearted: The Life and Death of Cecil and the Future of Africa’s Iconic Cats spoke to staff at the park, and other experts.

In the book, Loveridge said, ‘he most definitely did not die instantly and almost certainly suffered considerably.

‘Judging from the events described by elius and the data sent by the GPS collar, the injured lion most likely was killed 10 to 12 hours after being wounded.’

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‘Cecil suffered incredible cruelty for at least 10 hours, severely wounded and slowly dying.

‘Clearly, although the wound was severe, the arrow had missed the vital norgans or arteries that would have caused rapid blood loss and a relatively quick death. Certainly, the lion was so incapacitated that in all those hours he’d been able to move only 350 meters from the place where he was shot.