with us any time. like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. don't go away, "20/20" starts right now. tonight, on "20/20" -- the lion, the dentist, the outrage on the streets of mark. >> you are a murderer! >> how the pride of a nation and a trophy hunter with money to burn set off the uproar heard round the world. >> cecil. >> if the lion didn't have a name, do you think we'd have this outcry? we're taking you dead center, where it really happened. the only american journalist >> they use the tracks to bait

him to the property. >> a lure and then a light. >> he can't see you. it brought this animal to you. delivered to you like a pizza. >> disgusting. it's shameful what he looks like now. >> and was there a cover-up? all-new details about the lion's gps, from the first outsider to discover the kill. >> someone has moved the collar in a big rotation. so it looks like the lion is alive. >> tonight, we're taking you on the search as the hunter becomes the hunted, and the hated. >> is it that difficult to get an erection that you need to kill things? >> both say. they didn't know they were killing cecil. do you believe that? >> but this hunter isn't hiding. the woman in that notorious photo, that set twitter on fire, talking only to "20/20" in her first television interview. you're one of the most hated women in the world. does that bother you? how she says hunting animals will save them.

>> oh, my gosh. look at him. >> that money goes directly back into the conservation. i love animals. >> i don't understand any level of i love you, i think you're awesome, should i kill you? >> tonight, from the wilds of africa to the wild west of america. our correspondents take you into a hidden world you've never seen >> if you could say one thing to dr. walter palmer, what would you say to him? >> after tonight, what would you say? good evening and that's the question as we dive right into the uproar tonight. the killing of that deloved lion. we are just now learning that a statue of the lion might be erected in the park where he lived for 13 years and died ach being killed bay american dentist for sport. tonight, our team on the ground there showing you what happened to the line. >> the death has changed the business of big game hunting. as of tonight, 17 major airlines

and u.p.s. have banned the shipment of hunting trophies. that hunter is now in hiding. but how did that lion grow to become so legendary in the first place? here is ryan smith. reporter: on these sweeping plains one of the planet's most fearsome predators was born. destined to take his place atop the food chain and one day the whole world would know his name. cecil. >> cecil would have been born in a litter. typically three or five cubs in a litter. they are still blind and completely vulnerable. they're licking and bonding, mom comes in and gives them that protection and that's where this pride idea develops in lions. >> reporter: we came to the place cecil called home, zimbabwe, a country blessed with a wealth of natural resources, and cursed with decades of misrule and economic stagnation.

and here, just over 100 miles from the breathtaking victoria falls, we arrive at hwange national park. a vast preserve the size of connecticut where cecil lived. his neighbors included these giraffes, zebras, and elephants. >> look at size of this guy. >> reporter: we've got a front row seat today to one of the most amazing sights you'll ever see, a group of about 50 elephants stopping by for a drink. incredible. but don't let the pretty pictures deceive you. as our guide dudley explained, this this place may be beautiful. >> we're standing here, i'm talking to you on the other side we've got animals coming. sometimes we get surrounded with animals that you can't even make it to the car. >> reporter: but it can also be deadly. >> see what i was saying? you see what i was saying? guys, i think we have to move. there's more elephants coming, okay, guys? let's move. >> reporter: let's move over.

>> quickly, guys, quickly follow me. >> reporter: we were lucky to make it. and cecil was too. at least 67% of lion cubs don't make it to adulthood, dying of starvation, disease or infanticide when new males take over the pride. but cecil survives and thrives. a triumph of biology. by his first birthday his first roar. by his third he starts asserting himself. that's him on the prowl, large in size and stature. demanding a bigger share of the pride's kill. the dominant males most likely kicking him out and on his own. >> he is much bigger than a lioness now and he is dominating things at a carcass. >> reporter: would he have been a big guy from a young age based on how you saw him? >> yeah, absolutely. at one point, he decides enough is enough, he must go out on his own. >> reporter: brent stapelkamp is the closest thing we have to a cecil biographer. a lion researcher with oxford university, stapelkamp fitted cecil with a tracking collar

in 2008 and has studied his movements ever since. >> and now you scan, you get that sort of noise in the background but there's a very faint beep. i think he's in that direction now. >> reporter: for the next few years, cecil roams terrain where only the strong survive. fighting for food and a pride of his own. and note this special feature, that distinctive black mane, known to friend and foe alike. the darkness correlates to a lion's strength and vigor. plus the lionesses love it! what's the significance of that black mane? >> the females would actually select for black maned lions and give them more mating rights than the blonde counterpart. a big black maned lion and just knows that he's the boss. >> reporter: then a development no one expected, cecil forms an unlikely alliance with the son of a pride leader he once killed, a lion named jericho who would play a larger role later. >> we get a message from a safari camp to say, "brent,

we've got cecil and jericho together, they are fighting, but they are together." two days, three days later, they're seen walking together. there's photographs of them rubbing heads and things. >> reporter: the lions scratch and claw their way to the top, their own pride. and cecil becoming king of the largest kingdom in the park. but the menacing, top cat in the land has another surprising role in the park. that of a camera-ready superstar. >> cecil was very relaxed. everyone could take pictures of him close to the vehicle. the other lions that you would see, you get close to them, they'll run away. cecil was so used, maybe he was camera addicted. >> reporter: in a country suffering with both economic and political turmoil, cecil was one of the few bright spots here. he helped bring in millions to the tourism industry. thousands would come from around the world just to see him. his full black mane, a symbol of strength and power.

>> he just used to strut and show off, and he really was famous because of the way he interacted with people. >> reporter: he sounds almost regal. >> very regal. he was a big zimbabwe iconic animal. >> reporter: sharon stead grew up here. her family operating safari lodges for the past 25 years. have you ever caught him when he's pissed off? >> yeah, he came out of one of the bushes close by here once before, and with a big roar and how they throw sand on the ground to make you think that they're really. >> reporter: he roared at you? >> yeah, like roar, i can't make the real noise but that's how they make it. >> reporter: what did you do? >> well, your heart stops and you think, is he going to stop? >> reporter: brent saw the lion's softer side. >> i just remember watching this lion with his pride. this was 20 lions eating an elephant. cubs leaving the carcass to go and rub up against dad, back to the carcass, lionesses doing the same.

eventually he came to the carcass, had his fill and then he fell asleep with his head on. i've got photographs of him with his head on the elephant just fast asleep. >> reporter: just passed out, comfortable, i've had my fill. >> yeah. that's cecil. i've done my bit. i've got my family around me. beautiful. >> reporter: after 13 years cecil is enjoying life as the real life lion king. but as the sun sets in hwange park on july 1st, time is running out for the beast with the signature black mane. coming up, the king of the jungle is about to learn he's not the top predator on the planet. stay with us. i was energetic. then the chronic, widespread pain drained my energy. my doctor and i agreed moving more helps ease fibromyalgia pain.

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here now, deborah roberts. >> reporter: on these sweeping plains one of the planet's most fearsome predators was born. destined to take his place atop the food chain and one day the whole world would know his name -- walter palmer. >> going back in time. this is me. this is walt. >> reporter: chad wagner played basketball with walter palmer back when they were boys at lisbon, north dakota. >> that's walt on a jump shot! >> reporter: palmer, a sharpshooting forward. wagner, the team captain and lifelong friend. >> the type of guy who would give you the shirt off his back when in need. he would be the type of guy to help anybody. >> reporter: lisbon is a farming community of about 2,000 people. walter grew up with a brother and sister in this attractive ranch style home, just walking distance from the main street

in town. >> his family was very well liked. his dad was a doctor. obviously, being the doctor in town, you're one of the most prominent people in town. this is typical north dakota. now we are heading into more dryland territory where you'd see more wildlife. >> reporter: chad showed us the fields where as youngsters, he and walter would hunt pheasant, geese and white tailed deer. >> about as quiet and desolate as it comes. had a lot of good times up here. >> reporter: back at school, chad says walter stood out. an honor student and class leader. folks here weren't surprised he followed his dad into medicine. eventually, going to the university of minnesota school of dentistry. >> we invite to you come -- >> reporter: dr. palmer would go on to open river bluff dental in suburban minneapolis. this video publicizing their expertise. he became an award winning dentist. his polished reputation filling a golden bank account. a home in town, and several

others around minnesota and as far away as florida. that financial success allowed dr. palmer to take his childhood interest in hunting to a whole new level. bow hunting for big game. >> super slammers are the elite. the best of the best. >> reporter: he became good enough and had enough money to travel far enough to accomplish something only two dozen bow hunters ever have. the so called super slam of north america. taking all 29 huntable species listed by the grand slam club. this 2008 "new york times" promile describes him as capable of skewering a playing card from 100 yards and refusing to carry fire arms as a backup on bow hunts. this is called a compound? >> yes, this is a compound bow.

>> reporter: big game hunter rebecca francis understands the thrill. >> when you are out there and you take the shot, it's pure adrenaline. there's nothing like it. oh, my gosh. look at him! >> reporter: she lives in wyoming but, like palmer, has taken her shots around the globe. when it comes to hunting and the shots and the celebration, do you think that people just don't get it? they don't get what your world is all about? >> i think that people are raised in different cultures. and people that were raised in an area like this, it's part of their life. people that have lived in cities, they don't understand it. >> what are we looking at? >> we've got buffalo burgers, buffalo roast, buffalo steaks, we've got cougar meat right here. >> you can eat cougar? >> absolutely. and it's good. >> reporter: francis says some hunters are all about feeding their families, but pretty much all of them have a boundless love of the outdoors and support conservation.

>> we need to help people understand what hunters do for conservation. what we do for the future of wild life. >> reporter: dr. palmer was as passionate a hunter as they come but, along the way, he seems to have lost sight of some of the rules. in 2006, he was hunting black bear in northern wisconsin. he had a permit to kill a bear in one county. trouble is, palmer actually shot a bear in another county 40 miles away. these never before seen photos, obtained by abc news, show the aftermath of that expedition. >> as soon as the bear was killed, palmer and the three guys he was with, guides, they agreed they would lie about it. >> reporter: u.s. attorney john vaudreuil got involved when palmer took that illegal bear across state lines back to minnesota. >> he was lying to us. he was offering to pay, it turns out, about $20,000 to keep the others who were in the hunt, to have them lie. so that's a fairly aggressive coverup.

>> reporter: but his friends didn't take the bait. the bear guides sang like canaries. palmer eventually pled guilty to felony charges, paid nearly $3,000 in fines and was sentenced to a year in probation. >> he said he was remorseful. he said he was very sorry for what he had done. this lie. and one would hope that would be the end of it. >> reporter: but it was not the end of his troubles. back in the dental office, palmer had been slapped with a sexual harassment suit. he settled out of court for a hefty sum without admitting wrongdoing. yet, the state board of dentistry ordered dr. palmer to undergo ethics training and other measures in order to keep his license. through it all, palmer never stopped chasing big game. he went to zimbabwe, where he bagged a leopard. another trip, a lion. this picture is from that hunt. that lion is not cecil. a ghastly sight for animal rights activists but not necessarily for zimbabweans. >> you guys look at our animals and you think of them as

majestic creatures. we don't. >> reporter: zimbabwe native goodwell nzou recalls growing up fearful of lions and has a different take than westerners whose image of the king of beasts comes from the zoo or the movies. >> we see animals as, you know, threats to us, not as simbas. >> not cute simbas? >> yeah. >> reporter: for dr. palmer, the lion hunt must have been so intoxicating that he signed up for another trip to zimbabwe in 2015. what would happen next would turn palmer's well-heeled life upside down. but there are at least two versions of the hunt. which one will you believe? stay with us. >> when we come back, setting the trap. how dr. palmer's thrill of the

hunt plaped out. >> these tracks are the difference of life and death for the animal. >> and what does the computer reveal about a possible cover up? next. [ piercing sound ] daddy! lets play!

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"20/20" hunter and hunted continues. we're back with ryan smith. >> reporter: it is the morning of july 1st. as the sun rises on hwange national park, dr. walter palmer is just arriving in zimbabwe, eager for the thrill of the hunt. it costs big money to hunt big game. and in this case the money is central to the legal questions that arise later. palmer allegedly pays $55,000 to bag a lion. money that was supposed to cover a hunting permit, payment to the property owner where the hunt was to take place, and for guide theo bronkhorst.

>> did you think you had all the right permits? >> i believe so. >> reporter: palmer has also repeatedly insisted he thought his expedition was totally "legal and properly handled." but if they have documentation to prove it, they haven't released it. so what went wrong? according to bronkhurst, practically everything. the hunt was troubled from the start, set off by the most common of snafus. the airport misplaces dr. palmer's luggage. as the morning progresses, cecil is roaming the wild, and the champion hunter is roaming the airport looking for his bags. delaying their hunt. bronkhorst claims that because of the delay, they couldn't make it to the hunting location he preferred. instead the party chose a closer option. a farm called antionette, land abutting hwange national park. >> it was a usual hunting trip. and according to my client, nothing was illegal about the hunt. >> reporter: as the day ends,

the hunt begins. palmer and his guides set out to kill a lion. but unlike lions, they aren't stalking their prey. nobody's examining footprints, or using other tracking skills one might imagine. >> to me a hunt is testing the wind, remaining concealed. you try again and again. that's a hunt. you're challenging yourself against the wits and the nature of the animal. >> reporter: instead, he says, they use a technique called baiting, using the carcass of an animal to lure a lion into a predetermined place where they can get a clean shot. >> from what we know there was an elephant carcass as bait. >> reporter: filet mignon to a lion like cecil. and for lions nighttime is often dinner time. palmer and company allegedly drag the bait behind their jeep leave a trailing scent. a mile from the all-important border between antoinette farm,

and the hwange reserve. these tracks are the difference between life and death for this animal. on this side, a reserve where he can roam free and live. but just one two steps over here, private property where cecil can be shot killed. the trap is now set. bronkhorst reportedly states that a female lion approaches the bait. the hunters let her feed, and wait. around 10:00 p.m. a huge male, he describes as magnificent, approaches. it is the black-maned master of the domain, cecil. >> you've brought this animal to you, delivered to you like a pizza. you're 40 meters away, you've prepared everything. a spotlight would have come on. cecil would have looked off the carcass into the spotlight, maybe being blinded by the light. >> reporter: then, the moment that would change one life and

end another. cecil rushes off into the tall brush, bronkhorst claiming he sensed the lion was hit, but couldn't be sure. >> it's late at night and they don't want to follow him. they think, we'll come back tomorrow. he's not going to go far. tomorrow morning we're going to get him -- >> reporter: why wouldn't they want to follow him after shooting him with that first bow? >> this is a hugely dangerous animal now that's wounded. he's severely injured and to go after him, you're at real risk. >> reporter: at 9:00 a.m. the next morning they tracked a wounded cecil into the brush, and with one final arrow, dr. walter palmer finish the lion off. bronkhorst's lawyer insists nobody knew the slain lion was cecil. >> according to my client, mr. palmer didn't know he was shooting this famous lion. certainly no. >> reporter: palmer has also written, "i had no idea the lion

i took was a known, local favorite, was collared and part of a study." but authorities have a different version of events. for starters, he says no one got permits. >> nobody had permits. >> reporter: he said he believes he was on a legal hunt. does that excuse his conduct? >> that's not enough excuse. ignorance is not defense. >> reporter: and even if the hunt was properly authorized, it should never have taken place on antoinette farm. according to the parks and wildlife authority the farm had been declared off limits for lion hunting for 2015. whatever really happened leading up to the kill, the immediate aftermath is not in dispute. and it's a grisly business. the hunters lop off cecil's head and skin him, claiming their prize. >> they leave the body minus it's head, minus its skin, lying in the sand and let the vultures

and hyena's finish it off. >> reporter: in a published report bronkhorst says that when he and palmer found cecil's tracking collar they were shocked. panicking, they removed the collar, leaving it in a tree and later contacted authorities. do you believe that? >> absolutely not. i work hand in hand with authorities. no such contact was made. nothing. >> reporter: on july 4th, palmer departs zimbabwe. that same day, brent stapelkamp notices something odd. cecil's collar has stopped working. >> i make a mental note to catch that lion the next time i see him because as far as i'm concerned at that point, the battery has died. >> reporter: but it wasn't the only battery that was dead. a couple of days later, stapelkamp hears a rumor that a lion had been killed. he immediately goes to his tracking equipment. >> that's the final point where he started sending.

to me that is alarm bells. >> reporter: he calls authorities who are now making their way to a crime scene. >> it's really very important that the killers are brought to justice. this is national heritage, which belongs to everyone in the country. >> reporter: killing any lion on that off-limits property was illegal, police say. theo bronkhorst and the property owner are arrested and charged with poaching. >> they both say they didn't know they were killing cecil. do you believe it? >> i don't believe it. you can do a search for hwange lion and a picture of cecil pops up. if you come here, they knew what they were coming for. >> reporter: and now, data from the collar. data he says points to a cover

up. >> it's a cover up. >> reporter: look at this, a dot every two hours in the days before he was killed. the dots are tightly grouped. after, they are spread out. that indicates a person, not a lion, was moving the collar. >> they are moving it around and making it look like he is alive. and then they destroy it in the hope that we can't track it. >> reporter: we know that someone is trying to fool with the crime scene. >> absolutely. you wouldn't get this movement from there to there. that is man. that is not an animal doing that. someone moved it and the destroyed the collar. we have never seen the collar before. >> reporter: you have seen

cecil's skin? >> yeah, it's terrible. you can hardly identify him. it's terrible. it's disgusting. and it's just shameful. it's shameful what he looks like now. sorry. >> reporter: back in minnesota, dr. palmer returns to his home and his dental practice. he's awaiting the shipment of his trophy, cecil's head. but instead, he's going to receive the worst news of his life. the world is outraged over cecil's death, and now they want his killer's head on a platter. >> we should put a bounty on him. >> reporter: coming up, the hunter becomes the hunted. >> i would like to see you as a trophy on my wall. >> stay with us. >> before we start on the search for dr. palmer, what do you think he really did? made an innocent mistake or knowingly went after that lion. >> let us know on your facebook

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life's the food that brings us together. and kitchens where every meal is the most important of the day. "20/20" continues with hunter and hunted. once again, here is deborah roberts. >> reporter: on july 28th, the cecil story breaks out of africa when a controversial animal rights activist in zimbabwe's capital harare outs dr. walter palmer as the cecil slayer. >> i believe he should be brought in front of a judge. >> growing outrage after a beloved lion was killed by an american dentist. >> international outrage over the death of a beloved lion.

>> reporter: to sate it went viral would be an understatement. overnight palmer becomes arguably the most hated man in the world. >> this outrage over the death of cecil the lion keeps growing. >> i will call him what he is and he's is a piece of [ bleep ]. >> he is a heinous person i want to see him destroyed. >> is it that difficult for you to get an erection that you need to kill things? >> reporter: you know you're in trouble when you bring jimmy kimmel to tears. >> if you want to make this into a positive, you can, uh, sorry. okay, i'm good. maybe we can show the world that not all americans are like this jack hole. >> i think initially everyone felt the same way, how disgusting, how outrageous is this, how awful is this. >> what a gorgeous cat. >> reporter: animal planet's dave salmoni has dedicated most

of his life to lions. >> grander scale to me. they're the king of the jungle. you can hear that. >> we can hear it! >> when they get older it'll be a lot scarier, trust me. >> reporter: for him, cecil's death struck a chord. >> i hate that he was shot in that way, i hate that he suffered. i hate that somebody would just get a thrill out of killing him. >> reporter: professional hunter rebecca francis says if indeed palmer poached, he should pay. >> if something was done in any way, shape or form illegally, then yes, their prosecution needs to happen. i actually heard about it because somebody e-mailed me and requested me for an interview to discuss it. >> reporter: why? because she's been subjected to the court of public opinion and knows exactly what he is in for. >> oh, here's a good one. you better pray that i don't ever run into you because i will kill you and cut your head off and mount your f-ing head on the wall. i hope you die soon. >> reporter: see, last spring, francis suddenly had a target on her back after this memorable photo from her webpage was ripped by comedian ricky gervais. "what must've happened to you in your life to make you want to kill a beautiful animal and then lie next to it smiling?" in an instant, thousands were calling for francis' blonde mane. you're one of the most hated women in the world. does that bother you?

>> it gets to me just because, you know, how can you not how can you read all that all the time and not have it effect you? >> reporter: her life up ended, even though her hunt was completely legal. people saw is just vile that you could lie next to this slain, undignified animal now that it's dead. >> it wasn't disrespect. it was to remember this experience. and there were people there ready to take the meat. they used everything even down to the tail where they take the hairs and make jewelry to sell it. >> reporter: maybe. still some animal lovers can't get past these kinds of images, and for palmer the hail of arrows intensifies. protestors swarm dr. palmer's temporarily shuttered office. even making a shrine to the fallen feline. just last week vigilantes vandalize his marco island, florida, vacation home, covering his driveway with bloodied pig's feet. peta mobilizes, staging this

vigil in washington, d.c. this isn't exactly the kind of protest i associate with peta. why so quiet? >> this is a solemn occasion. people have been devastated by cecil's death. >> reporter: and yet, goodwell nzou, a zimbawean, can't quite believe the outrage over an animal who, until recently, barely anyone in the u.s. had even heard of. did you think it was ridiculous that people were upset about a lion that was killed? >> i was very shocked. how is it possible that anyone could, you know, cry or feel so sad about a dead lion? >> it's as if someone had killed lassie. >> if the lion didn't have a name, do you think we'd have this outcry? >> once an animal gets a name, they treat it like a human being. >> reporter: in african villages, goodwell says news of a dangerous animal's death would actually be celebrated. rebecca francis has video to prove it. this is how villagers in

mozambique reacted after she shot a hippo there. >> when i took that hippo down, every one in the village came running. they were hugging me and kissing me and thanking me. they all had their bucket and their knife and they were all cutting up that hippo. every single drop of that hippo was utilized to that village. i also took some home and ate it that night. >> reporter: proof, she says, that there's more to the story than a bloody carcass and a smiling hunter. >> it's a catch-22. people can't quite understand how you can love an animal and kill an animal, but i can honestly say that i look at wildlife the exact same way you do and everybody else does. i love animals. >> reporter: this hunter insists she is not only an animal lover, but also a conservationist. >> there has to always be population control. so, when we hunt, we generally go after the oldest animals that generally have been past their reproductive years. so they're not part of the reproducing whole.

>> reporter: but dave salmoni isn't swayed. these folks say they're helping the conservation. >> i think it helps them sleep at night. absolutely they spend a lot of money. absolutely it goes to some governing body somewhere but none of that money goes to purchasing land, developing the population in a healthy way. not trophy hunting. >> reporter: but before you judge, take a look at this place. >> we have 18,000 acres, and any of these animals are, like i said, they're born here. they're free. >> reporter: it may look like an african savannah, but this game hunters' paradise called the ox ranch is actually deep in the heart of texas! >> oh, we had a baby! >> reporter: tony harden runs the operation, a place that brings in endangered animals from africa and allows them to breed. a few hunters pay to shoot certain mature specimens, and the money allows the ranch to carry on. harden says his ranch and others have already saved three species from extinction. >> if we shoot three or four or

five or ten species of one mature animal out of the pasture that was born here, there's 200 babies hitting the ground. >> reporter: that may be true but it certainly doesn't placate the anti-palmer protesters. >> extradite palmer! >> reporter: now he's facing more than hatred. the u.s. fish and wildlife service launched an investigation, and african officials are calling for palmer's extradition to zimbabwe, where he could face up to ten years in prison if found guilty. >> and i understand that already the processes have started, and we are looking forward for his extradition. >> but how to extradite someone you can't even find. the hunter's now the hunted, with everyone wondering, where is dr. palmer? the disgraced dentist seems to have vanished. his practice shuttered. his homes vacant. palmer has declined numerous requests from abc news for comment but has publicly issued two brief statements, in which

he says -- "i deeply regret that my pursuit of an activity i love and practice responsibly and legally resulted in the taking of this lion." tonight, his whereabouts unknown. next whereabouts we do know about. the seven cubs that cecil left behind. >> is there a chance they won't survive? >> what happens after the hunters leave? >> the repercussions felt after the hunter is home drinking scotch. y over-producing six key inflammatory substances that cause our symptoms. most allergy pills only control one substance, flonase controls six. and six is greater than one. so go ahead, inhale life, excite your senses, seize the day and the night. flonase. six is greater than one.

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now back to "20/20" and ryan

smith with hunter and hunted. >> reporter: they are the next generation. if they survive. cecil's cubs, seven in all and with their father now gone their future far from certain. are these cubs at risk? is there a chance they won't survive? >> there is a chance. they are in mortal danger if a new coalition of males comes in. >> reporter: when a pride leader like cecil dies, new males swoop in, often killing cubs and mating with lionesses to establish their own bloodlines. the one chance cecil's cubs have, his old buddy jericho. after cecil's death, some expected jericho to kill the cubs and establish his own pride but then, some clemency in the law of the jungle. >> the change in the wildlife is that we're seeing his friend, who's still alive, who's looking after the cubs. >> reporter: they're not at risk necessarily from jericho. >> jericho's accepted them as his own.

>> reporter: oh, he has? >> yeah, he's shared kills with them. they've bitten his ears and played with his tail. as far as jericho's concerned, that's his pride. they're at no risk from jericho. they bonded. they have each other's scent on them, jericho will look after them. >> reporter: so where is jericho today? we've been looking for jericho. that's cecil's close friend and co-leader of his pride. he's been elusive. few people have seen him, but locals say they've heard him. okay. >> here we go. you can see he has walked this way. >> reporter: so it's likely that lions or maybe even jericho was here today. >> yeah. >> reporter: they say he is in mourning. rarely seen, but often heard. >> jericho is up and down, up and down this boundary, calling, not a full-throated lion roar with all the confidence, but a quieter contact call, "uhn uhn uhn." he's not wanting to draw attention in case there's other lions around. he's just waiting for cecil to reply. he has realized that he's alone, and he's desperately trying to find his partner.

>> reporter: the effects of cecil's death still being felt here. what does his loss now mean to this park? >> it's bad. it's not good for us. and we -- we're just devastated, ryan. heartbroken. >> the repercussions of a lion hunt are felt months and months after the hunter is home, drinking scotch, telling his friends about this lion hunt. this animal and repercussions being felt back in africa where he took that lion. >> reporter: so far, the zimbabwean government has issued a partial ban on lion hunting, and soon it may outlaw the killing of collared animals altogether. a lion like cecil, with a collar on him, that type of lion can't be hunted right now. >> no, you can't. >> reporter: despite his agony over the loss of cecil, researcher brent stapelkam has a surprising take on trophy hunting. do you think hunting should be banned in zimbabwe?

>> hunting across the board, no. i think it's too dangerous to say that and to want that. >> reporter: he feels lions should be off limits, but he believes the revenue from other big game hunting will allow places like hwange to survive. >> preservation is a luxury. in africa it has to pay for itself. otherwise the argument for that land turning into cattle ranching or villages where people can grow a little bit of crops, is going to outweigh the value of that land. there's an old adage that we use in this country. if it pays, it stays. we need to see a return, otherwise we have no argument for this. >> hunters and anti-hunters want a healthy and diverse wild life population. that is what we want. we need to have people understand what we do for conservation. what we do for the future of wild life. >> reporter: as for goodwell nhou? he'd appreciate it if westerners paid half as much attention to zimbabwe's people as they to zimbabwe's lions. >> i like the idea of preserving

animals. but we have these issues that do exist already that we are not even talking about. hunger. that we are dying of aids. but all of a sudden, one lion dies, then the whole world blows up. >> reporter: we might be naive to think that we're going to see the end of trophy hunting, but it doesn't mean we shouldn't try. >> reporter: dave salmoni, holding a cub named cecilia in honor of the former king of hwange park, believes cecil did not die vain. the outrage has generated more awareness, more debate, and a million more dollars to fund conservation efforts. >> there are a lot of people that didn't know how awful this practice was before cecil's death. and now there's a lot of people that not only are they outraged by it, but they want to do something about it. >> reporter: earlier this month, cecil's face was projected onto new york's empire state building. and for a moment, even in this concrete jungle, he was still king. >> the world is working up to

the issues surrounding lions. it's brought a lot of attention to our work and to zimbabwe. and i think that is his legacy. it's a positive legacy. a new season brings a new look. a chance to try something different. this summer, challenge your preconceptions and experience a cadillac for yourself. take advantage of our summer offers. get this low mileage lease on select ats models, in stock the longest, for around 269 per month. ♪ it's just a summer thing

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one little struggle... can lead to one monumental mishap. not with new ziploc easy open tabs. because life needs ziploc. sc johnson. so after tonight's program, we want to know where you substantiate on the debate of big game hunting. let us know on facebook and twitter. >> thanks so much for watching tonight and for all of us here at "20/20" and abc news, have a great night and a great weekend. we're following breaking news multi alarm fire in trenton. why laughter may be the best

medicine, that is up next. breaking news tonight, from the penns landing hilton. the the hotel had some unwanted guests, alleged drug dealers. only "action news" was there as police raided the place tonight. as for the suspected dealers, they may get a new room, a jail cell, downtown.