Zimbabwe Seeking Extradition for American Who Killed Lion

Hundreds of protesters have gathered outside Palmer’s dental practice in Bloomington, Minnesota, this week to voice their disgust, CNN affiliate WCCO reported. Environment Minister Oppah Muchinguri has meanwhile appealed for the United States to extradite Palmer so he can be brought to justice.Chidziya said the authority had joined forces with the police in a crackdown “to weed out any undesirable elements”.

Killed… Cecil the lion strolls around in Hwange National Park, in Hwange, Zimbabwe.

“The illegal killing was deliberate”, she said at a news conference. He’s a member of the trophy-hunting organization Safari Club, and his profile on that club’s website lists 43 kills.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has already launched its own investigation of Palmer to see if he violated the Lacey Act, a conservation law that governs the import and ownership of illegally killed, transported or sold plants and wildlife.

In Washington, a Zimbabwean diplomat said the embassy was not aware that extradition proceedings had been initiated by his government.

Two Zimbabwean citizens were arrested and face charges in the case in which Palmer has been implicated.

Cecil the Lion’s brother Jericho has been killed by poachers in Zimbabwe.

It also emerged that Palmer was planning to shoot an elephant next.

The U.S. hasn’t sent anyone to Zimbabwe since the treaty took effect and vice versa, according to a State Department official who was not authorized to address the issue by name and spoke on condition of anonymity.

As outrage grows over the killing of Cecil the lion, Zimbabwe has called on the United States to extradite the American dentist who shot the prized big cat.

An online petition to the White House, requesting Palmer’s extradition, has gained more than 500,000 signatures with animal lovers kept protesting in front of the dentist’s office in Minnesota, blocking its entrance with stuffed animals and wreaths. “I had no idea that the lion I took was a known, local favourite, was collared and is part of a study until the end of the hunt”, he said.

In an interview with British newspaper The Telegraph, Palmer’s guide, Theo Bronkhorst, said the hunt went “wrong from the beginning”.

On Friday, U.S. Fish and Wildlife posted a tweet that said: “Late yesterday we were voluntarily contacted by a rep of Dr. Palmer”.

Hunting is legal in Zimbabwe and other neighbouring countries, but only with permits granted by the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority.

The wildlife authority said it was necessary to tighten hunting regulations outside the park “following the killing of the iconic lion Cecil”.

He added that Palmer, who reportedly paid $50,000 (£32,000) to hunt the lion, additionally violated the act through financing an illegal hunt.