The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

"Crayfish Song": Was Star Author Delia Owens Involved in the Murder of a Poacher?

2022-07-19T13:58:48.056Z


Delia Owens and her husband once worked for animal welfare in Zambia. Extensive media research now raises the suspicion that the couple accepted the deaths of poachers.


Enlarge image

Zoologist and best-selling author Delia Owens: How far did her commitment to animal welfare go?

Photo: Alberto E. Rodriguez/FilmMagic/Getty Images

Extensive observations of nature, a young woman alone in the wilderness and an unexplained death: This is what Delia Owen's bestseller "The Song of the Crayfish" is about, which has sold millions of copies.

The film adaptation of the novel about female self-empowerment is scheduled to start on August 18, produced by Hollywood star Reese Witherspoon, who came out as a fan of the novel early on.

Shortly before the cinema release, the US magazine »The Atlantic« is now publishing a major investigation that shows that author Owens, now 73 years old, was once involved in a death that has not been cleared up to this day.

The incident happened in 1996 when Owens was living with her husband, biologist Mark Owens, and his son from his first marriage, Christopher, near North Luangwa National Park in Zambia.

"And that was just a warm-up exercise"

Delia Owens is a zoologist by trade;

Together with her husband and his son, she was active in the African country as an animal welfare activist.

Their primary goal was to protect elephants from poachers.

The Owens spent a total of 20 years in Africa.

And maybe they didn't shy away from violence against people in their commitment to animal welfare.

In a meticulous reappraisal of the events, The Atlantic author Jeffrey Goldberg lists various pieces of evidence according to which the Owens admitted to using guns against poachers - and apparently also accepted their deaths.

Goldberg quotes from a fax sent by Mark Owens to warn a hunter even though he had an official license to hunt.

In the message, Owens appeared to be behind an action by militant conservationists that killed two poachers.

He ended the message with the warning: "And that was just a warm-up exercise."

That could lead to a reassessment of the couple's commitment.

So far, the heroic narrative has dominated, as Goldberg puts it in his article, "two telegenic Americans on a mission to protect elephants from poachers and corrupt African officials."

Shot on camera

Precisely this telegenicity, invoked by Goldberg, could be fatal to the Owens.

Because in 1996 the couple were the beaming protagonists of a documentary by the US broadcaster ABC, in which their fight for the elephants was celebrated.

But in "Deadly Game: The Mark and Delia Owens Story" not only the Owens' commitment to the endangered pachyderms is documented, but also a scene in which a poacher is shot dead in front of the camera.

The identity of the victim was not named in the film, nor is it clarified in it who the perpetrator could have been.

However, the ABC production's cinematographer later claimed that Delia Owen's stepson Christopher fired the shot.

A former Zambian investigator explains to journalist Goldberg that the murder on camera has not yet been officially investigated: »The jungle is a perfect place to commit murder.

The animals eat the evidence.”

more on the subject

  • Bestselling author Delia Owens: The Woman Who Sells More Books Than John Grisham and Stephen KingBy Philipp Oehmke

  • Growing up under extreme conditions: Alone with longingBy Marcus Müntefering

Now the case should be reopened.

There is no statute of limitations for murder in Zambia.

For the prosecutor responsible, it is obviously about larger political connections: “I can’t even get into the US embassy with a camera,” says the lawyer, “but Mark and Delia smuggled guns into Zambia to prosecute poachers in their own country Taking hands.” He wanted to know how it could have happened.

The couple, Delia and Mark Owens, who now live in the US state of Idaho, deny any complicity in the death and are evading subpoenas from prosecutors in Zambia.

Speaking to The Atlantic, Delia Owens denies that she or her husband have ever been involved in activities that endangered lives.

“The only thing Mark ever did was throw firecrackers out of the plane to scare poachers.

He never meant to hurt anyone."

cbu

Source: spiegel

All life articles on 2022-07-19

You may like

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.