Charles Elias Disney in the Eastern African Outback 2016

​Charles Elias Disney advocates for the wild Creatures in Africa...
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Charles Elias Disney: "His Journeys to East Africa as an advocate for Cecil the Lion  and many other Magnificent Creatures---many of which are endangered---and even leading to complete extinction!  His intention is never  to interfere, only  to preserve!  Charles Elias and his fellow associates consider it to be a rare privilege each time they journey very deep into the East African outback regions within the expansive and quite awesome National Parks!"    
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"Cecil the Lion" was a male African Lion (Panthera leo in the family of Felidae) who primarily lived in the Hwange National Park in Matabeleland North, Zimbabwe in East Africa. He was a "protected Lion!" He was a major attraction at the park and was being studied and tracked by Oxford University as part of a larger study. Cecil had a GPS tracking collar around his neck that was quite visible to everyone who saw him! On 1 July 2015, he was shot and killed after an American dentist wounded him with a high-power bow and arrow. He was then tracked for 40 hours and found and shot dead with a high-power rifle. (The complete details follow...)

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"I am a HUGE animal lover and it drives me crazy when I see these beautiful Creatures destroyed for no good reason. When I heard the news about Cecil I got inspired to create a tribute image. It's not much but hopefully it will make people think."
​                            Aaron Blaise, Walt Disney Artist and the Animator of "The Lion King!"
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​Cecil the Lion. He was such a Magnificent African Lion. He was wrongfully killed!
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Cecil the Lion 2002 + 2015

Cecil the Lion resting on a mound in the African outback

Cecil the Lion front view showing his majestic mane

A young Cecil the Lion in the tall grass in the African outback in 2005

Cecil the Lion's Cubs

Cecil the Lion resting

Cecil the Lion running in the East African outback

Cecil the Lion front head-on view

Cecil the Lion with very visible tracking collar!

Cecil the Lion with his Cubs

Cecil the Lion's Cubs on road in the African outback

Cecil the Lion in the African outback

Cecil the Lion with Lioness

Cecil the Lion was so handsome!

Cecil the Lion with Lioness mate

Cecil the Lion and his brother in a brotherly squabble!

Lions, Lions, Lions! Very deep in the outback of Hwange National Park Zimbabwe

Seven Lionesses keeping close together and far from our cameras! Deep in the Hwange outback

Lioness with her Cubs sunning on a large hilltop

Cecil the Lion and two Lionesses in the African outback. Such awesome and magnificent Creatures!

Large male Lion resting in the Hwange National Park Zimbabwe very far from our cameras!

Limpopo Landscape in Africa where is seems you can really see forever!

Cecil the Lion chasing a Jeep with photographers in 2012. Sadly, Cecil couldn't chase off the men who killed him on 1 July 2015!

Portrait of the majestic Cecil the Lion

Cecil the Lion--named after Cecil Rhodes--
​(Cecil John Rhodes PC was a British businessman, mining magnate and politician in East Africa, who served as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896)  and another lion believed to be Cecil's brother were noticed in Hwange National Park in 2008. In 2009, the two lions encountered an established pride, which resulted in a fight in which Cecil's brother was killed and both Cecil and the leader of the pride were seriously wounded; the leader was subsequently killed by park rangers because of the wounds he had received in the fight with Cecil. Cecil retreated to another part of the park where he eventually established his own pride which had up to 22 members. In 2013, Cecil was forced out from the area by two young male lions into the eastern border of the park. There, he created a coalition with another male lion named Jericho to establish two prides which consisted of Cecil, Jericho, half a dozen females and up to a dozen cubs sired by Cecil or Jericho.

Cecil was the best-known animal in the national park and was identifiable by his black-fringed mane and a GPS tracking collar The lions in the park, including Cecil, have been studied by scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Research unit at Oxford University as part of a scientific project that has run since 1999, and his movements had been followed since 2008. Of the 62 lions tagged during the study period, 34 have died, thereof 24 through sport hunting. Of adult male lions that were tagged inside the park, 72% were killed through sport hunting on areas near the park. One of the researchers on the project suggested that Cecil had become so popular because he was accustomed to people, allowing vehicles sometimes as close as 10 metres (33 ft), making it easy for tourists and researchers to photograph and observe him.

In 2013, 49 hunted lion carcasses were exported from Zimbabwe as trophies; the 2005–2008 Zimbabwe hunt "off-take" (licensed kills) average was 42 lions per year. Let's always keep in mind that ALL of these Lions, Tigers and other Creatures are WILD ANIMALS only intended to remain in their proper and mandated and permanent order in their very own wild and untamed environments! Environments actually created since the beginning of time by God and each time we enter their  environments we are really, truly, UNINVITED GUESTS!  We always must maintain a very safe distance from these splendid and majestic Lions, and other man-eaters, and Elephants and other wild Creatures, out of deep respect for each and every Creature we encounter! Each one of us maintains this respect for these really magnificent and awesome Creatures!

In June 2015, Dr. Walter Palmer, an American dentist and recreational game hunter from Minnesota, reportedly paid US $50,000 to a professional hunter / guide, Theo Bronkhorst, to enable him to kill a lion. Cecil was allegedly lured out of the sanctuary and then shot and wounded with an arrow. He was tracked and killed, reportedly with a rifle, approximately 40 hours later. However, Palmer asserts that Cecil was tracked and killed with a bow and arrow in far less than 40 hours. He was then skinned and his head was removed. When his headless skeleton was found by park investigators, his tracking collar was missing.

Bronkhorst said in July, "We had obtained the permit for bow hunting, we had obtained the permit for the lion from the council." The two Zimbabweans were arrested by Zimbabwe. Palmer had already returned to the United States, where he issued a statement that he had "relied on the expertise of my local professional guides to ensure a legal hunt" and "deeply regret that my pursuit of an activity I love and practice responsibly and legally resulted in the taking of this lion."

Cecil's killing
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Created an outrage among animal conservationists, prompted responses from politicians and many other people. A number of celebrities publicly condemned Cecil's killing. Palmer received a flood of hate messages and activists posted the dentist's private details online. The words "Lion Killer" were also spray-painted on the garage door at Dr. Palmer's Florida vacation home. Artists from around the world dedicated art to Cecil, including Walt Disney animator Aaron Blaise, who was the animator of  "The Lion King."

The killing of Cecil sparked a discussion among conservation organisations about the ethics and business of big-game hunting and a proposal for bills banning imports of lion trophies to the U.S. and European Union. These discussions have convinced three of the largest airlines in the U.S., American, Delta, and United to take the voluntary step of banning the transport of hunting trophies. In response, under the premise that profits from trophy hunts help animal conservation efforts, Phomba Shifeta the Namibian environment and tourism minister, said, "This will be the end of conservation in Namibia." Activists have also called on African countries to ban bow hunting,  lion bating, and hunting from hunting blinds. Global media and social media reaction has resulted in close to 1.2 million people signing online petition "Justice for Cecil," which calls on Zimbabwe's to stop issuing hunting permits for endangered animals.

Safari Club International responded by suspending both Palmer's and Bronkhorst's memberships, stating that "those who intentionally take wildlife illegally should be prosecuted and punished to the maximum extent allowed by law." Late-night talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel helped raise US $150,000 in donations in less than 24 hours to Oxford's Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, which had been "responsible for tracking Cecil's activity and location."

In Zimbabwe

Cecil's killing went largely unnoticed in the animal's native outback in Zimbabwe. The country's The Chronicle newspaper wrote: "It is not an overstatement that almost 99.99 percent of Zimbabweans didn’t know about this animal until Monday. Now we have just learnt, thanks to the British media, that we had Africa’s most famous lion all along, an icon!" The BBC's Farai Sevenzo wrote: "The lion's death has not registered much with the locals." At the same time, Zimbabwean officials stated that the killing of Cecil had already caused a drop in tourism revenues. A significant drop was noted in Hwange, where the lion had lived. Many international tourists, who had planned to see the lion, had cancelled their trips. "This killing is a huge loss to our tourism sector that was contributing immensely to the national wealth," said Emanuel Fundira, the president of the Safari Operators Association of Zimbabwe. "We had a lot of people, in terms of visitors, coming in to the country to enjoy and view Cecil, so really this was a great loss," Fundira said, and that Cecil's presence was "a draw card," and compared his death to "the demise of an icon." The head of the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority, Karikoga Kaseke, said that tourism had been booming, but that Zimbabwe was now perceived as a country which was not interested in protecting and promoting animal rights, and this had also had a negative impact on the tourism sector.

Bryan Orford, a professional wildlife guide who worked in Hwange, calculates that with tourists from a single nearby lodge collectively paying US $9,800 per day, the revenue generated by having Cecil's photograph taken over five days would have been greater than someone paying a one-off fee of US $45,000 to hunt and kill the lion, with no hope of future revenue.
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On 1 August 2015, in response to Cecil's killing, the hunting of lions, leopards and elephants along with all bow-hunting was immediately suspended in areas outside of Hwange National Park by Zimbabwe's environment minister, Oppah Muchinguri, who said, "All such hunts will only be conducted if confirmed and authorized in writing by the Director-general of the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, and only if accompanied by parks staff whose costs will be met by the landowner."  Sadly, the moratorium was lifted after 10 days and this has disappointed countless numbers of people including many people who will change their plans and never visit Zimbabwe or perhaps will now never come to Africa!

Consequences for the Pride

When one or more new male lions oust or replace a previous male(s) associated with a pride, they often kill any existing young cubs, a form of infanticide. Initially, both the Oxford University study and Johnny Rodrigues, head of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, indicated that they believed Cecil's six cubs could be killed by the new dominant male in the pride. In a later interview, however, Rodrigues said Jericho had taken over the pride but had not killed Cecil's cubs, and that he was also keeping the cubs safe from any rival males.
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Personal reflections by Charles Elias Disney...

"Cecil the Lion was, by every count, and historically, one of the most magnificent Lions in Africa! Over the years countless numbers of visitors made a special effort to come to Zimbabwe to hopefully be fortunate enough to be able to view and to even photograph this majestic Lion. People from all over the world were saddened and even traumatized in regard to the killing of Cecil.  Africa is losing countless numbers of so many really magnificent and even awesome Creatures and in the not so distant future, Creatures that will no longer inhabit our earth due to illegal poaching and unlawful and over-hunting allowed by the African government! A century ago there were over 200,000 wild Lions in Africa and now down to about 20,000 today! Make no mistake, Lions, Tigers, (Tigers are mostly found in Siberia, India and Southeast Asia) and other Wild Animals are natural killers--they hunt and kill their prey for survival! They can easily kill a Human Being and have done so many, many times across the centuries! The killing of Cecil the Lion was a sad day for Africa and for the integrity of the world as a whole---because once these magnificent Creatures are gone, they are gone FOREVER...! Cecil the Lion was a direct link to these African Creatures. And many of these magnificent Creatures are now on endangered species registers, worldwide!  I am personally committed to saving these magnificent Creatures!  If I don't, well, who will?  If you don't, who will?  They are ALL worth saving for today and for all future generations! God help us all if we don't involve ourselves with saving and preserving what He has Created and what He has given us dominion over!"

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Magnificent Victoria Falls Zimbabwe

Baobab Sunrise in Africa. Quite beautiful & inspiring!

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Bengal Tigers in India where they are quite endangered! We are also advocates for the numerous Tigers (Panthera tigris) species found in India, in eastern Russia and southeast Asia!    Charles Elias Disney

Bengal Tiger is QUITE ENDANGERED!

Aggressive Bengal Tiger why they are rightfully called "Man-Eaters!"

Srinagar Kashmir India, Bengal Tigers habitat

Bengal Tiger in lake with Lilly pads in the far outback in India

Bengal Tiger cleaning her Cub

Bengal Tiger (probably weighs in at approx. 300 lbs.) decided to rest on our Jeep in the India outback, early one morning! Maybe breakfast was on his mind...!

White Bengal Tiger

The rare Blue Tiger

Bengal Tiger being aggressive--look at those teeth!

Bengal Tiger in India marsh

White Bengal Tigers in the far outback

Bengal Tiger resting in tree

Bengal Tiger close-up "You don't mess with these beautiful Tigers in the far India outback! Unless you don't respect these magnificent "Man-eating" Tigers!

Bengal Tiger Cubs deep in the outback into India! We were not as close as our camera lens indicates!

Bengal Tiger that really surprised us!

Bengal Tiger maybe thinking what a delicious meal we could be! That's why they are called "Man-eaters!"

Bengal Tiger walking toward us

​      African Elephants...so Magnificent...so Magestic...so Endangered...so Sad!

Mother African Elephant and her Calf

South African Bull Elephant ready to charge us!

South African Bull Elephant

Large families of Elephants in one of their favorite watering holes

And what the government allows some of their people to do to Elephants is quite shocking!  Entire Herds/Families of these magnificent Creatures are killed by poisoning their water supplies...and the African authorities do little to stop and prevent this horrible and inhumane and cruel killing of these Elephants! All for ivory! It is now illegal to import ivory into the United States and most regions of the World!

Baby Elephants (Calves) enjoying bathing

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​The following image is quite shocking!  We are greatly saddened and outraged by the reality of this image!
These killings were done solely for the ivory tusks cut from these magnificent Elephants...their water supply was poisoned! We were completely traumatized when we discovered these Elephants dying!! My God, when will these horrible killings cease?  Our hearts are broken and our lives have been altered forever!

Very sadly, "This is what you get when magnificent Elephants in Africa and elsewhere are slaughtered for their ivory tusks! When will the senseless killing of these stately Creatures end? We do wonder? We are greatly saddened and outraged by the reality of this image!! These Elephants are some of the most grand and stately animals on earth...! WHEN WILL THE AFRICAN GOVERNMENT INTERVENE AND STOP THESE HORRIBLE AND SENSELESS KILLINGS? WE WONDER...Charles Elias Disney.

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