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Beachgoers Friday morning shared the shorelines of Delray Beach with a meticulously sculpted sand lion — a “dedication to Cecil” as artist Lee Stoops described it.
Stoops, a Delray Beach-based artist, sculpted the 10-foot-long lion with his grandsons, Casey and Cale. The subject of Stoops’ latest sand sculpture is Cecil the lion, who has been the subject of national news coverage.
The 13-year-old lion was hunted and killed this month by Minnesota-based dentist Walter James Palmer, sparking international outrage.
“It really struck a chord with me,” Stoops said. “We were just trying to reflect on what happened so it doesn’t happen again.”
Palmer allegedly lured the lion from a national park in Zimbabwe, then shot him with a bow and arrow, only to kill him with a gun 40 hours later.
Cecil was local favorite who had been collared as part of an Oxford University research project.
The Zimbabwean government called for 55-year-old Palmer's extradition from the United States this morning, the Associated Press reports.
Stoops wanted to work on the project with his 5- and 6-year-old grandsons who were visiting from Alaska, he said. He hoped that the memorial for Cecil sparks a conversation between parents and their children about the illegal hunting problem plaguing the world.
“We have to keep the topic alive and keep people talking about it,” Stoops said.
It took a couple of hours to sculpt the lion, which is 4 feet tall, Stoops said. The sculpture is about twice the size of Cecil with bright green eyes made from tennis balls, Stoops said.
Stoops often does sand sculptures in Delray Beach and Fort Lauderdale. He said he expects the sculpture to last only through Friday.
People spent hours crowded around the artist as be worked on it.
“It was kind of like a wake for poor Cecil,” he said.
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