Cecil the lion's killing brings Jimmy Kimmel to brink of tears

Jimmy Kimmel choked back tearsTuesday night during a monologuededicated to the uproar over the killing of a popular lion in Zimbabwe by an American dentist who hunts big game for sport.

"This is I should say was Cecil the lion. Beautiful animal," Kimmel says, opening the segment with footage of Cecil when he was alive.

The 13-year-old lion was a local favourite among tourists and guides. Hewore a GPS tracking device as part of a long-runningOxford University study.

• 'If it pays, it stays': Why hunters are defending the African lion hunt
• Cecil the lion reportedly killed by U.S. dentist Walter Palmer

This wasuntil Minnesota dentist Walter Palmer, who is wanted on poaching charges, lured Cecil from a protected area in Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park, and killed him with a crossbow in early July.

Palmer is believed to have injured Cecil with his bow before tracking him for 40 hours and finishing him off with a gun. The lion's skinned and headless body was found along with Cecil's tracking collar, which the hunters allegedly tried to destroy.

Palmer issued a statement Tuesdaysaying he regretted that his hunt led to Cecil's death, but that tothebestof his knowledge everything about his trip was legal. He said hewasunaware that the lion he "took" was a local favourite.

"Stop saying you took the Lion. You take Aspirin. You killed the lion," Kimmel said in his monologue."The big question is, why are you shooting a lion in the first place? How is that fun? Is it that difficult for you to get an erection that you need to kill things?"

Kimmel goes on to call Palmer "the most hated man in America who never advertised Jell-Opudding on television," acomparison to Bill Cosby, who has been accused of sexually assaulting women.

"He killed like half of Noah's Ark," Kimmel joked of Palmer's previous hunting conquests.

But the monologue ended on a serious note. As he choked back tears, Kimmel said he hoped some good could come from "this disgusting tragedy," directing viewers to the OxfordWildlife Conservation Research Unit website.