Zimbabweans 'don't understand the whole fuss' about Cecil the lion

Protestor holds up sign outside dentist office of lion hunter

(Image credit: Adam Bettcher/Stringer/Getty Images)

published 30 July 2015

The death of Cecil the lion — an animal supposedly beloved by the people of Zimbabwe — had many people in the capital city of Harare scratching their heads over the uproar in America.

"You are saying that all this noise is about a dead lion? Lions are killed all the time in this country," a used-clothes hawker on the streets of Harare told Reuters. "What's so special about this one?"

"It's so cruel, but I don't understand the whole fuss, there are so many pressing issues in Zimbabwe — we have water shortages, no electricity, and no jobs — yet people are making noise about a lion?" another resident of Harare, Eunice Vhunise, told The Chicago Tribune. "I saw Cecil once when I visited the game park. I will probably miss him. But honestly the attention is just too much."

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Even the acting information minister of Zimbabwe, Prisca Mupfumira, was confused.

"What lion?" he said when asked for a comment.

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.