Wanted in Zimbabwe, Cecil’s Minnesotan hunter surfaces
The American dentist who recently killed Cecil, a world famous lion in Zimbabwe, says he did not know the lion had a name and that he is returning to work.
Walter Palmer of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, was said to have made Cecil suffer for 40 hours before being shot dead, skinned, and beheaded in late July.
Zimbabwe's Environment Minister Oppah Muchinguri forwarded an official request to her US counterpart for the extradition of Palmer, who finally spoke about the matter publicly in a Monday interview.
"If I had known this lion had a name and was important to the country, or a study, obviously I wouldn't have taken it. Nobody in our hunting party knew, before or after, the name of this lion," said the 55-year-old dentist (seen below).
The 13-year-old Cecil lived in Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park with his six cubs.
Palmer allegedly lured Cecil, a tourist attraction well-known for his black mane, out of the park using bait and killed him.
The injured lion, who had a tracking collar, fled the violent poachers, Palmer and some local guides, but was found by them 40 hours later, when he was shot dead and his pelt removed.
In the interview with the Associated Press and Minneapolis Star Tribune, Palmer said the lion was outside the national park's borders, and the tracking device had been covered by the animal’s mane so he could not see it well at night.
The hunter also rejected the idea that he had let the injured animal wander for 40 hours as well as reports that he had paid $50,000 to take part in the hunt.
He also said he had killed the lion with an arrow not a gun as the Zimbabwean authorities had said.
Reports of Cecil’s death outraged social media users and animal activists.
In 2008, Palmer pleaded guilty to federal poaching charges after killing a black bear in Wisconsin, 40 miles outside of the legal hunting zone.
He was sentenced to one year of probation and fined $3,000 back in 2008 over killing a black bear in Wisconsin.
The hunter further described Zimbabwe as “a wonderful country for me to hunt in,” saying it was time for him to go back to work at Palmer’s River Bluff Dental in Bloomington, where he is needed as a “health professional.”
"I have a lot of staff members and I’m a little heartbroken at the disruption in their lives. I’m a health professional. I need to get back to my staff and my patients, and they want me back. That’s why I’m back."
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