Quinn Swales, a photographic Safari guide who was leading a group of tourists in the same National Park in Zimbabwe that was the home of Cecil the lion (who was killed by the infamous dentist Walter Palmer), has been attacked and killed by a male lion.
The lion’s name is Nxaha. He wore a radio collar so he could be tracked. He must have been known to the authorities. He was part of a pride of two male lions, two females and two cubs who are being tracked by the guide and his six tourists. Walking safaris like this are popular throughout African reserves and attacks by animals extremely rare.
On this occasion, Mr Swales at first managed to scare away the lions; then, unexpectedly the male lion, Nxaha, made a U-turn and attacked him. Mr Swales died of his injuries on the same day that he was attacked.
He was a much respected guide and very experienced. One of the tourists who had used Mr Swales as a guide had written:
“After we left Hwange, our group talked about who we would want near if the end of the world ever came. Quinn was top of the list.”
It is said that there has been no such incident of an unprovoked attack in this area of Africa for the last 30 to 40 years. After sadness for the lose of this man’s life, my immediate thought is that is was a shame that Cecil didn’t do the same thing to Walter Palmer. That would have been the best outcome for me.
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No sort of trigger involved at all. It’s a “get out of my turf” thing. I would guess that Nxaha was in a protective mode and a complacent guide, who had done his job over and over without thought, overstepped.
We need to stop thinking that wild animals could or want to share their turfs with us. We need to stop thinking that they have any interest in how we feel, whether we love them or not. We have to be very cautious if intruding in their lives.
They’re better protectors of their rights than any of us are.
I think you have nailed it Dee. The guide, not matter how good he was, just overstepped the mark. He got a little bit complacent and too comfortable. Also Nxaha has a good reason to attack. It is human error sadly.