Astonishingly, the man, Mr Loveridge, who fitted the GPS collar to Xanda the lion recently killed by trophy hunters in Zimbabwe, says that the person who organised the hunt resulting in the killing of this lion is Richard Cooke from RC Safaris who he describes as one of the ‘good’ guys. Weird moral standards…
Mr Loveridge is referring to the fact that Richard Cooke returned the collar and communicated with Mr Loveridge about the killing of Xanda. At least he did that but it cannot in any shape or form make him a good guy.
Mr Cooke organised the hunt. He is involved in trophy hunting of lions in Zimbabwe. The shooting of this lion was legal because the regulations on trophy hunting in Zimbabwe are very lax and out of step with modern thinking. It is allowed no doubt because of the amount of money it brings in to those in authority in Zimbabwe with little or no concern for conservation or public relations issues.
So who is Richard Cooke? He used to have a website which is now unavailable. This is the URL: http://www.richardcookesafaris.com/. It does go to a website but not the actual website of Richard Cooke Safaris. It is a holding/advertising website clearly indicating that the website itself is down. Surprised?
His details are on a Twitter feed. He must have been bombarded with criticisms from the many decent animal advocates in the world.
- His email addresses: rcookesafaris@gmail.com
- His address: 653 Reynard Road, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
- Phone: +263 (0) 782 787 051 or 13 40499
- His job description is: Ranch Operator.
Richard Cooke Safaris is a member of Safari Operators Association of Zimbabwe – SOAZ. Ther website is also down at this time: http://www.soaz.net/. This may be for innocent reasons but it may be because they are involved in the killing of Xanda. News of this has spread internationally and virally.
Perhaps some visitors to this website might like to email Mr Cooke to register their disgust at what he has done. Personally I would rate him as one of the bad guys for the simple reason that he is involved in trophy hunting. No doubt he makes lots of money from it and no doubt he will argue vehemently that what he does is good for lion conservation which is complete BS.
In a previous post I asked who had killed Xanda. We do not know who fired the actual shot but we do know who organised the shooting: Richard Cooke.
Have you seen this advertisement ?
“The Equaliser”
No.
I think it’s Richard Cooke. At least judging from his face in the photograph.
I only knew him when he was a pupil at Fort Victoria Junior School during/up until 1981, and later met him again when he was a high school student at Plumtree School, say in 1984.
He was a prefect & boarder at FVJS and a strangely passive-aggressive (?) respectful schoolboy.
I was a duty teacher at Fort Victoria Junior School (meaning I did not teach there, I helped look after the boarders, I taught as a secondary teacher at other schools). Fort Victoria was subsequently renamed Nyanda, and subsequently re-renamed Masvingo.
Thanks for the info Donald.