But this reads like he killed a zoo animal. Is that way off base?
You can be sure that it's way off base. I am not sure what methods he or his hunting guide used to "lure" "Cecil" off the park and onto private land. I am reasonably sure that it wasn't targeted to only appeal to "Cecil".
The guy has a history of taking game legally and ethically (and yes, he did "poach" a bear, but anybody that knows the byzantine laws in the states involving hunting tags knows it's easy to get pinched for poaching) and I have no reason to believe that he didn't attempt to do that here.
Again I say, I'm no fan of trophy hunting, even with those psychos that use nothing but a knife, but the economic benefit is undeniable.
The plain fact of the matter is that pussified Americans and Euros have NO FUCKING CLUE what goes on in Africa. It might as well be fucking Mars to them. For them to opine and to apply their twisted, upside-down morals and outrage to anything that goes on there is pitiful.