The Oxford University researchers who have studied the lions where Cecil lived found that trophy hunting just outside the national park had "an alarming impact on lion numbers and population structure within the park."
"Each removal of a male lion by hunters on the borders of the park created a 'territorial vacuum' which drew males from further inside the protected area into boundary areas, where they too became vulnerable to hunters," the university said.
A complete moratorium on trophy hunting around the park between 2005 and 2008 coincided with a 50% increase in the lion population there, the researchers noted.
Trophy hunting restarted in 2009 but with close monitoring by the Oxford research team, Zimbabwean authorities and other groups to ensure its impact on the lion population was sustainable.
Studies have shown that with these big, lavish hunts, only 3% to 5% of the income from that hunt actually ends up for local people on the ground where the hunt happens,"
"There are much better ways to earn this kind of money -- revenue from nature tourism, where the animal's not killed, brings in three to 15 times what's brought in from these trophy hunts in Africa,"
Now that Cecil is dead, the next lion in the hierarchy, Jericho will most likely kill all Cecil's cubs so that he can insert his own bloodline into the females," the Zimbabwe Conservation Force said.
WildCRU: balancing the needs of conservation and local people | Department of Zoology, University of Oxford