U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service opens investigation into dentist who killed Cecil the lion – White House says it will review petition to extradite the elusive hunter
30 July 2015 (Daily Mail) – He was already the most hated man in America for killing Cecil the lion and now Dr. Walter Palmer is fast on his way to becoming one of the most wanted. The Minnesota dentist has not been seen since he was identified as the killer of Africa’s most famous lion and now the US Fish and Wildlife Service has begun its own hunt for the elusive Dr. Palmer after announcing it has opened an investigation into him. The federal agency confirmed it has not spoken to him since he was identified as Cecil’s killer on Tuesday and demanded the reviled hunter pick up the phone and contact them as a matter of urgency. Indeed, since he was catapulted to global notoriety, married father-of-two Dr. Palmer has not been seen at his Minneapolis home and closed his Bloomington surgery at which he is the sole practitioner. Dr. Palmer has not even been caught escaping the international outcry by relaxing in the Sunshine State at his Naples, Florida mansion. Nor has he made a television appearance in an effort to limit the damage to his own livelihood and safety and the PR firm he hired to deal with the fallout split with him. He has made only one terse public statement on the matter since Tuesday and in it effectively threw his two Zimbabwean guides under the bus. [more]
By David Bailey, with additional reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Scott Malone, Sandra Maler, and Lisa Shumaker
30 July 2015 BLOOMINGTON, Minnesota (Reuters) – A Minnesota dentist’s killing of Zimbabwe’s Cecil the lion just outside a national wildlife preserve has unleashed death threats and a global firestorm of hate messages on social media. About 200 people protested on Wednesday outside the suburban Minneapolis office of Walter Palmer, 55, calling for him to be extradited to Zimbabwe to face charges. Palmer, an avid big game hunter, said in a statement on Tuesday he regrets killing Zimbabwe’s most famous lion on July 1. He said he had hired professional local guides who secured hunting permits and believed the hunt was legal. Cecil, a rare black-maned lion, was lured out of Hwange National Park using a bait and was wounded with a bow and arrow, and not shot dead until 40 hours later. Cecil was fitted with a GPS collar for a research project by scientists from Oxford University and was one of the oldest and most famous lions in Zimbabwe. Palmer temporarily closed his office in Bloomington, Minnesota, on Tuesday as criticism grew of his killing of Cecil and negative business reviews flooded Google and Yelp. […] A small memorial of stuffed animals stood in the entry door to the building that houses Palmer’s dental practice. Signs taped to the door said “Rot in Hell” and “Palmer there is a deep cavity waiting for you!” Demonstrators called for Palmer’s arrest and asked people not to use his dental practice.
“Walter, you are a murderer, you are a terrorist,” said Rachel Augusta, a Minneapolis resident and mentor coordinator at the Animal Rights Coalition, which organised the protest. Even Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton weighed in. “It’s an iconic lion,” Dayton, a Democrat, told reporters. “To lure the animal out of the preserve, I don’t understand how anybody thinks that’s a sport. I just think it is horrible.” Palmer, who has not been charged, has been under official scrutiny for his hunting in the past. He pleaded guilty in 2008 to a federal charge of lying to a U.S. Fish & Wildlife agent about a black bear hunt in Wisconsin two years earlier. Palmer was sentenced to one year probation fined $2,938. He had been accused of killing a bear outside his permitted zone and then hauling it back 40 miles (64 km) inside to register it with authorities. [more]
U.S. dentist who killed Zimbabwe’s Cecil the lion draws threats, protests
