The American dentist who sparked global outrage by killing Cecil the lion has spoken out for the first time since the controversial hunt in Zimbabwe.
Walter Palmer hit out at the “level of humanity” of critics around the world, and said he was “heartbroken” by the disruption the killing and its aftermath had caused to his family, friends and colleagues.
Cecil was one of Zimbabwe’s most treasured animals, a dominant figure in the vast Hwange National Park and a significant part of a study by Oxford University, which had fitted him with a GPS collar.
In the aftermath of the killing, US media reports suggested Mr Palmer shot Cecil with an arrow before finishing him off with a gun some 40 hours later, and that he had gone into hiding ever since.
Cecil the Lion, before he was killed by American hunter Walter Palmer
Speaking jointly to the Associated Press and the local Minneapolis Star Tribune in an interview which advisers said would be his first and last, Mr Palmer disputed these details and said he “always followed the laws” in any hunts he conducted.
He said he shot Cecil with his compound bow outside the park boundaries of Hwange, and that the lion was tracked and killed with a second arrow the next day.
“If I had known this lion had a name and was important to the country or a study obviously I wouldn't have taken it,” Mr Palmer said. “Nobody in our hunting party knew before or after the name of this lion.”
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Mr Palmer said that after more than a month of online abuse, he now feels safe to return to work at his clinic in Bloomington.
“I've been out of the public eye. That doesn't mean I'm in hiding,” he said. “I've been among people, family and friends. Location is really not that important.”
Discussing the impact which the public furore had on his family, Mr Palmer said: “This has been especially hard on my wife and my daughter.
“They’ve been threatened in the social media, and again … I don’t understand that level of humanity to come after people not involved at all.” The most controversial animal kills
Mr Palmer refused to go into any more detail about the hunt itself, or say what had happened to Cecil’s corpse. Lions are not listed as an endangered species by the US government, meaning there are no limits on importing hunting trophies back through American customs. Zimbabwe news reports suggested Cecil’s head had been impounded by authorities at the end of July, though that is yet to be confirmed.
Theo Bronkhorst, a professional hunter who helped Mr Palmer, has been charged with “failure to prevent an illegal hunt”. Honest Ndlovu, whose property is near the park in western Zimbabwe, faces a charge of allowing the lion hunt to take place on his farm without proper authority.
Some high-level Zimbabwean officials have suggested Mr Palmer should face extradition, but no formal steps towards that end have been announced and he has not been charged with any crimes. Asked if he would return to the country for further hunts, he said: “I don’t know about the future.”
