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Man who studied Cecil the lion for 9 years talks impact

1 of 7 In this photo taken Nov. 9, 2014 photographer Brent Stapelkamp, front right, with colleagues in the Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe. Stapelkamp, a lion researcher and part of a team that had tracked and... (AP Photo/Derek Whalley) More

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — When Cecil the lion’s carcass was finally found after he was lured out of a Zimbabwe wildlife reserve to be killed by an American hunter, it was a headless, skinless skeleton the vultures had been picking at for about a week.

Conservationists decided the most natural thing was to leave the bones where they were for hyenas to finish off, said Brent Stapelkamp, a lion researcher and part of a team that had tracked and studied Cecil for nine years.