I have been following the story about the tragic death of Cecil the Lion with sadness and interest in seeing Zimbabwe's laws on hunting tighten up and the hopeful prosecution of Walter Palmer, who took this magnificent animal's life for what any rational human would term - no good reason.

As a consequence it was feared that the loss of Cecil would lead to the death of some or all of his cubs. Cecil along with 'brother' Jericho protected a pride consisting of both their cubs and a group of lionesses. One fear was that Jericho would kill Cecil's cubs to establish his new dominance. This has not been the case as Jericho has stepped up to protect all the cubs under his care, but he still faces severe challenges as a single male lion responsible for an extended family.

Just the other day i was thinking about this and mentally wishing him well so it was with deep shock and outrage that i read in the Sunday papers that Park authorities believe that an unforseen reaction to all the publicity over Cecil is that poachers have now placed a bounty on Jericho's head.

Jericho was lured from the park in the last few days in much the same way his brother was and he was feared dead - fortunately his collar GPS was picked up yesterday, indicating he had evaded hunters.

However if there is any truth in the assertions that Jericho is being targeted, for the notoriety of his connection to Cecil, i believe that every effort should be made to protect him and i would urge the park authorities to step up security and take special precautions for the foreseeable future.

By all accounts Jericho, like Cecil is a friendly, caring creature - he has stepped up to protect a good size pride on his own and should the worst happen we could be looking at the loss of a few dozen lions as the pride would be completely vulnerable without at least one male protector.

I urge everyone who sees this to sign so we can raise awareness and hopefully prevent another tragedy. Even if there is no truth to the speculation of poachers targeting Jericho, its better to be safe than sorry and this might get the relevant and similar authorities thinking about how to step up their own conservation efforts to safeguard animals around the world. Thank you.