Zimbabwe says it won’t charge American who killed Cecil the lion

The report also said that according to Muchinguri-Kashiri, Palmer would still be allowed to set foot on Zimbabwe but only as a tourist and not as a hunter.

– Minnesota dentist Walter Palmer became the subject of public outrage after killing the beloved Cecil the Lion this July, and Zimbabwe’s environment minister announced Monday he won’t be charged and Zimbabwe officials are no longer calling for his extradition.

So: An American guy gets to waltz through Hwange National Park, kill an animal who was a major tourist attraction, split town, and leave two Zimbabweans holding the bag for his gross f***-up. Despite that, the minister suggested that Palmer’s days of hunting in Zimbabwe are over.

Palmer, an experienced trophy hunter, was hounded on social media over the killing, and after demonstrations outside his dental practice in Minesota, he went into hiding for weeks.

“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 said in a press conference as reported by Reuters. While Palmer returned to work in September, the finality of the situation had been hanging in the balance – particularly as to whether or not Palmer would be brought to task for the killing.

But a minister on Monday said Zimbabwe would drop its bid to have Palmer brought to justice because he at the time of hunt, he was carrying all the right papers.

Theo Bronkhorst, a professional hunter in Zimbabwe, is charged with breaching hunting rules in connection with the hunt in which Cecil was killed. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has previously said it was investigating Palmer. The country will pursue not further action against the dentist, but says it is going to review the way it issues hunting permits for lions and other big game.

Cat expert Alan Rabinowitz, chief executive of the New York-based cat conservation organization Panthera, said in response that “the bar must be raised” for any legal hunting of wild cats because wild lion populations are declining in most parts of Africa.