Zimbabweans won’t press criminal charges against the killer of Cecil the Lion during an illegal big game hunt last July.
“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,” a government official has announced.
It’s unclear if any money changed hands to influence the surprise decision declaring wealthy American dentist, Walter Palmer, innocent of luring and shooting the impoverished African nation’s most prized lion.
The 55-year-old poacher will, however, be pursued in his own country now, the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force informed reporters this week, adding that they intend to use Cecil the Lion’s severed head as Exhibit A when the case goes to trial.
“The fact is the law was broken,” an irate ZCTF spokesman said in response to Zimbabwe’s clearing of Palmer on charges of wrongdoing in his grotesque *safari* this summer.
Dr. Palmer and his team used fresh kill to entice Cecil to leave his protected territory one evening, then blinded the animal with spotlights so the dentist could easily slay him with a crossbow.
Despite the elaborate set up, Palmer failed to accomplish the deed, and the wounded lion had to be tracked for nearly two more days and put down by a guide, who also tried to conceal the crime by destroying Cecil’s GPS research-collar.
Palmer still wanted the head and skin of the rare lion as wall trophies though, taking those parts and leaving its mutilated carcass in the bush, where it was later discovered by park rangers.
But Palmer’s illegal contraband was seized before it could be shipped overseas to his Minnesota mansion -- he’s been charged and fined for perpetrating similar illegalities in the U.S.
@EponymousRox
poaching, bribery, Cecil the Lion
