For the last decade, Brent Stapelkamp has been studying and photographing lions with Oxford University's Hwange Lion Research Project. The Zimbabwe group's work gained international attention after Cecil, a 13-year-old local favorite, was shot and killed by a Minnesota dentist last year. “Thousands of hours in the company of lions meant I got a unique perspective of their lives and the threats that they face,” Stapelkamp said. His images, which are currently on display at the Anastasia Gallery, are perhaps the best way to understand the world that Cecil inhabited. Within the 5,657-square-mile national park, the lions in Cecil’s pride can be found hunting, playing, and resting within close proximity to human visitors. It was this exposure to tourists, Stapelkamp said, that made Cecil vulnerable to the hunters who were waiting just beyond the railroad that serves as a border to the park. “He was the biggest on the block,” Stapelkamp said, “that gave him a real confidence that people found mesmerizing.” The final photo in this series was taken the last time Stapelkamp saw him, a little more than a month before Cecil was killed.
Remembering Cecil the Lion
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Read moreA lioness pays her respects to Cecil on October 21, 2012. During this time, the animal had twenty or more lions in his family. #
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Read moreTwo young males stand in the mist looking over a herd of buffalo on April 19, 2011. #
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Read moreBrothers Bush and Bhubezi fight after stealing a lioness from Cecil on October 20, 2012. #
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Read moreAfter Tommy single-handedly brought down a large buffalo bull, a passing vulture caught his eye on April 29, 2015. #
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Read moreA windmill in the national park pumps water for the animals on May 19, 2015. #
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Read moreCecil was a dominant male over a large area for most of his adult life. He is pictured here with his queen on October 21, 2012. #
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Read moreUmuya walks down a trail to follow the herd on June 10, 2015. #
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Read moreBush, another dominant male, relaxes on a freshly killed buffalo calf on July 18, 2013. Bush was eventually shot as a trophy just weeks before Cecil. #
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Read moreA cluster of clouds forms the shape of a wolf over an evening’s moon on March 10, 2015. #
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Read moreElephants play in the park on November 5, 2014. #
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Read moreA lioness rests beside the railway that separates the park from a hunting area on June 10, 2015. The animals seem to know where they are safe and where they are not. Cecil crossed this exact track in July 2015 and never returned. Hwange National Park has lost about a dozen lions to this train over the years. #
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Read moreA young cub, not content to sleep like the rest of the pride, yawns on October 23, 2013. #
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Read moreJericho and Cecil are pictured on May 27, 2015, the last morning Brent would see Cecil. Although unrelated, these two lions maintained a strong alliance. #
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Read moreA lioness calls out to remind all her neighbors that this is her territory on June 6, 2015. #
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Read moreA lion licks his nose on July 30, 2012. #
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Read moreCecil looks out in the distance on May 27, 2015, the last day Brent would see him alive. #
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