The Murrysville gynecological oncologist being investigated for killing a lion on what may have been an illegal hunt in Zimbabwe in April not only proclaimed his innocence in his first public statement since the accusations were made against him — he said he wasn’t even there.
“Recently, there have been media reports naming Dr. Jan Seski in connection with the killing of a lion in Zimbabwe in April 2015. Those reports are not accurate,” Dr. Seski said in a statement released through his lawyer, Greg F. Linsin. “During April of this year, Dr. Seski was at his home in the Pittsburgh area treating the cancer patients that rely on him for their care through the medical practice that he has maintained since 1981.”
Dr. Seski, however, goes on to say that he participated in a hunt in Zimbabwe in July where he took a lion. He added that he notified the Zimbabwean authorities and provided them with all the required information and at all times was in compliance with the law.
Zimbabwe officials released his name as a participant in an April hunt they said was illegal.
The doctor was not alone defending himself Tuesday. The owner of a South African reserve where Dr. Seski went hunting in 2012 said the doctor had integrity and conducted hunts legally.
Dr. Seski was back at his Forbes Avenue office in Oakland on Tuesday; the office had been closed Monday. He declined through a receptionist to talk to a reporter there. At least six patients were there, and one man gave his full support of Dr. Seski as he walked out of the office with his wife.
“He’s kept my wife alive,” said the man, who would not provide his name. “I love him like a brother.”
Along with the practice in Oakland, Dr. Seski also works at an office in West Mifflin and has privileges at several Allegheny Health Network hospitals.
As founder of AHN’s Center for Bloodless Medicine and Surgery, Dr. Seski has worked for years on limiting the amount of blood loss during surgery, using techniques ranging from cauterizing and clamping blood vessels during operations to recycling blood a patient loses during a procedure.
Allegheny Health Network released a statement Monday that said Dr. Seski is an independent physician not employed by the network and that it is monitoring the situation.
According to Stewart Dorrington, the owner of a South African reserve where Dr. Seski hunted antelope with bow and arrow in 2012, the doctor did nothing wrong even if the hunt was illegal. The fault, he says, would be the landowner’s.
“[An illegal hunt] can happen,” Mr. Dorrington said on the phone. “But if it does happen, it’s not the client’s fault.”
In this case, the landowner would be Headman Sibanda, who is accused of breaching hunting regulations, according to the Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority.
Mr. Sibanda also came to Dr. Seski’s defense.
“He conducted his hunt in good faith and now he is being treated as if he is some criminal,” Mr. Sibanda told the Associated Press on Monday. “He is an honest man who came into this country to give us business. He doesn't deserve all this attention and harassment. He should be allowed to have a good night's sleep because his conscience should be clear. Everything was done aboveboard.”
Regardless, Richard Chibuwe, minister counselor with the Zimbabwe embassy in Washington, D.C., said that the Zimbabwean government will “explore all avenues” to bring justice, including extradition, to both Dr. Seski and Minnesota dentist Walter Palmer, who also is accused of illegally killing a lion.
He said that politicians in Zimbabwe have already started the extradition process for Mr. Palmer.
First Published: August 4, 2015, 7:12 p.m.
