I absolutely agree with Jimmy on this horrible situation where killing lions whether for sport or pleasure goes to the extreme.
Cecil was a magnificent pride male in Hwange National park, Zimbabwe.
Not only was he important to a university research team but also had another pride male and both played a big role in protecting a group of female lions and cubs.
Lions have evolved to be the only cats that live in social groups and in the African wild, that is extremely crucial and for a very good reason.
Hyenas live in social groups and a pack of hyenas is extremely dangerous to female lions and their cubs and not only do they kill them to get rid of competition but also eat them when necessary and that's where pride males come in to protect the females and cubs, from the serious threats of hyenas and other male lions that kill cubs when they take over a pride.
The dangers faced by a helpless pride of lions in the African wild is endless and the pride males have a huge role in protecting them and paving way for the survival of their young and without them, their young are almost guaranteed to die as nature plays the role in very brutal ways.
Now speaking of that, don't know if it's any different in how brutal this lion killer, killed Cecil, extremely inhumane. Shooting an arrow into this magnificent animal and letting it suffer in excruciating pain for 40hrs before getting shot again!!
What's going to follow now is the rest of Cecil's cubs getting killed as other male lions realize there's no longer force against them. Approximately a dozen cubs and if you could just process that for a minute and ask yourself, is it really worth it!!