Minnesota dentist Walter Palmer will not be charged for the killing of Cecil the Lion, a Zimbabwe minister has decided.
On July 1Â Walter Palmer, 55, tracked a famous and rare Zimbabwean lion after guides removed a GPS collar then lured him outside of the national conservation park. Palmer then reportedly shot Cecil the Lion with a crossbow, and continued tracking him for 40 hours until he found him and killed him with a shotgun.
For more than a month the world was outraged over the loss of a popular and beloved protected lion. Calls for Palmer to be deported came from Zimbabwean officials and the public, and several protests outside Palmer’s office were held.
Palmer insisted he had done nothing wrong and had obtained the proper papers before beginning his hunt.
Today, a Zimbabwean cabinet minister has decided that Palmer will not be deported or 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,” Zimbabwean Environment Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri said, according to Reuters.
Palmer, a self-described life-long big game hunter, will be allowed to return to Zimbabwe but will likely not be issued hunting permits again.
He paid about $55,000 to hunt Cecil.
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Image by E Linares via Twitter
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