The cubs of slaughtered Cecil the lion have been given a safe new home – by their uncle Jericho.
The infant lions have been taken on by their new pride leader in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe, after their father was shot dead by a US dentist, causing international furore.
The young, which have now been photographed cuddling up together, have been taken under the wing of three lionesses in the pride, according to conservationists.
Big game hunter Walter Palmer has now been in hiding for more than a week after being revealed as the bow hunter who killed Cecil.
The 55-year-old was also forced to close his Minneapolis dental practice and employ armed security guards and use covert CCTV cameras after being targeted with death threats.
Palmer’s home in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, has been monitored by police and has so far escaped attack.
But his holiday home in Marco Island, Florida, was hit by vandals who sprayed the words “lion killer” on his garage door and dumped pigs’ feet on his driveway.
Officials in Zimbabwe, where Cecil was killed, have called for Palmer to be extradited to face trial.
Two days ago animal rights activists asked the Minnesota Board of Dentistry to investigate the dentist.
The Animal Legal Defense Fund says it filed a complaint alleging that Palmer brought disrepute to Minnesota’s dental profession
Earlier this week the professional hunter who helped Palmer kill Cecil dismissed the case against him as “crazy”.
At a court in Hwange town, Theo Bronkhorst described the backlash following the killing of Cecil the lion as “traumatic”.
He claimed he didn’t even know who Cecil was when he assisted Palmer – whom he described as a “good man” – to hunt down the popular lion.
Earlier this month it was reported that Jericho the lion had been found alive and well amid reports he had been killed by a poacher.
Brent Stapelkamp, a field researcher for the Hwange Lion Research Project, said the GPS-tagged lion appeared to be moving around as normal.
A field research team from Oxford University’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit was also able to trace the lion.