Zimbabwe will not charge U.S. dentist for killing Cecil the lion

Hamilton Nwosa
Writer
Walter Palmer arrives at the River Bluff Dental clinic in Bloomington, Minnesota, September 8, 2015. REUTERS/Eric Miller

Ad

It Is Time to End the Civil War: Beyond Words, Towards Economic Empowerment

By Sonny Iroche A War That Officially Ended, But Psychologically Lingers On January 15, 1970, the guns of the Nigerian–Biafra Civil War fell silent when General Philip Effiong formally surrendered to General Yakubu Gowon at the Dodan Barracks in Lagos. Gowon’s declaration of “No Victor, No Vanquished” was meant to mark not only the cessation…

Ceasefire Deal Breaks Down as Israel Launches Airstrikes on Gaza

Israel has unleashed a wave of airstrikes on southern Gaza, targeting areas in Rafah and Jabalia just one week after a U.S.-brokered ceasefire took effect. The strikes, which Israeli officials described as a "firm response" to alleged Hamas attacks, have killed at least eight Palestinians and wounded dozens more, according to Gaza's health ministry. The…

Ad

 Zimbabwe will not charge American dentist Walter Palmer for killing its most prized lion in July because he had obtained legal authority to conduct the hunt, a cabinet minister said on Monday.

Palmer, a lifelong big-game hunter from Minnesota, stoked a global controversy when he killed Cecil, a rare black-maned lion, with a bow and arrow outside Hwange National Park in Western Zimbabwe.

But Palmer’s hunting papers were in order, Environment Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri said on Monday. Consequently, he could not be charged.

“We approached the police and then the Prosecutor General, and it turned out that Palmer came to Zimbabwe because all the papers were in order,” Muchinguri-Kashiri told reporters.

Muchinguri Kashiri said Palmer was free to visit Zimbabwe as a tourist but not as a hunter. The implication was he would not be issued the permits a hunter needs.

Two more people still face charges related to Cecil’s killing. Both allegedly were involved in using bait to lure Cecil out of his habitat in Hwange National Park so he could be killed.

Theo Bronkhorst, a professional hunter in Zimbabwe, is charged with breaching hunting rules in connection with the hunt in which Cecil was killed. A game park owner is also charged with allowing an illegal hunt. Both have denied the charges.

Bronkhorst is expected to appear in a Hwange court on Thursday where a magistrate will rule on a request by his lawyers that his indictment be quashed.

Palmer, 55, has previously said that the hunt was legal and no one in the hunting party realized the targeted lion was Cecil, a well-known tourist attraction in the park.

Palmer could not be reached immediately for comment on the environment minister’s statement to reporters.

 

Ad

X whatsapp