The hunting and killing of Cecil, the lion, has caused the international community of animal activists and the general public to develop extreme rage against the U.S. hunter responsible for it. Now, more than a month after the death of the iconic black-maned endangered lion, Walter Palmer, Cecil's perpetrator, intends to return to his work as a professional dentist.
On Sunday, Sept 6, Palmer was interviewed by The Associated Press and Minneapolis Star Tribune and announced that he will resume his clinical practice in Minneapolis starting on Tuesday, Sept 8. According to him, he is a health professional and he needs to return to his staff and patients as they want him back.
During the latter part of July 2015, Palmer was named as the culprit behind the death of Cecil. After this, his clinic in Bloomington, as well as his residence in Eden Prairie have since become a site for protesters and activists, who were strongly disappointed and hurt. His family's rest house in Florida were also attacked by vandalizers. Recalling everything that transpired, he said that he was heartbroken for disrupting the personnel working at his clinic. Before August 2015 ended, his clinic re-opened its doors; however, Palmer still remained out of sight. The entire issue has caused tremendous hardships for his threatened family.
In the Sunday interview, which according to Palmer's advisers would be the only one, he iterated that his belief that he acted legally still stands firm. He also said that he was astonished to discover that his group had claimed the lives of Zimbabwe's well-adored animals. Should he and his hunting party knew that the lion had a name and that it was a significant part of the nation and of a research, Palmer said they would not have killed it. No one among the group was aware that the lion's name prior to and after the hunting. With this, he also took the interview as a chance to refute the claims of conservationists that wounded Cecil roamed around for 40 hours and was finally killed with a gun. He clarified that it was discovered the following day and that it was killed with an arrow, not by a gunshot.
When Palmer was asked if he would return to Zimbabwe to hunt again, he said he is not yet sure. According to him, he had been to the country some three to four times and that it was a good nation for him to hunt in. Lastly, he iterated that he has consistently abide by the rules.
The death of Cecil gave rise to heated debates tackling about trophy hunting in Africa. After the incident, Zimbabwe has made hunting rules for elephants, leopards and lions stricter and three of U.S. biggest airline companies have also prohibited the transportation of the said animals.
Photo: Mathias Appel | Flickr