US seeks to question Minnesota dentist in shooting of Cecil the lion
Already sought for questioning by authorities in Zimbabwe over the claimed poaching of a popular lion allegedly lured from an African national park to be hunted and slain, a Minnesota dentist is now in hot water in the U.S. as well.
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has tried without success to contact Dr. Walter Palmer, a big-game hunter from the Twin Cities, said Edward Grace, who serves as the agency’s deputy chief of law enforcement. He urged Palmer or his representative to contact USFWS immediately, reports the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Fish & Wildlife is “investigating the circumstances surrounding the killing of Cecil the lion,” Grace said Thursday. “That investigation will take us wherever the facts lead.”
Palmer declined to discuss the lion-slaying matter with the newspaper on Wednesday and did not answer the phone Thursday.
He earlier told news media that he shot and wounded the animal with a bow and arrow, but had done nothing wrong because the hunt was legal and permitted. Palmer later said he regretted the death of Cecil, who was reportedly tracked by Palmer’s party and finished off with a gunshot some 40 hours later. He said he was unaware that the lion lived in a protected game reserve.
The death of Cecil ignited a social media firestorm and forced Palmer to put a freeze on his dental practice due to an onslaught of phone calls and postings on his social media and website accounts, the Star Tribune reports.
Without naming names, Safari Club International announced Wednesday that it had “imposed immediate emergency membership suspensions of both the involved hunter and his guide/professional hunter” while the death of Cecil is being investigated.
Related coverage:
BBC News: “Cecil the lion death: US investigates Walter Palmer hunt”
CNN: “#WalterPalmer: From hunter to hunted—Internet seeks revenge for Cecil the lion”
CNN: “Two Zimbabweans freed on bail in death of Cecil the lion”
NBC News: “Cecil the Lion’s Killer Walter James Palmer Apologizes to Dental Patients”
