[Updated] Dentist Reviled For Killing Cecil The Lion Wanted By Zimbabwe Officials

By Rachel Cromidas in News on Jul 31, 2015 3:55PM

Minnesota's most notorious small-town dentist/internationally reviled trophy hunter—best-known for killing Cecil, a Zimbabwe lion beloved among tourists and wildlife researchers—is now wanted by authorities.

Zimbabwe Wildlife Minister Oppah Muchinguri says officials are seeking to extradite Walter Palmer, who published a statement saying he killed Cecil with the help of local hunting experts under the assumption that what he was doing was legal.

"We want him tried in Zimbabwe because he violated our laws," Muchinguri told reporters in a press conference Friday. "Unfortunately it was too late to apprehend the foreign poacher as he had already absconded to his country of origin. We are appealing to the responsible authorities for his extradition to Zimbabwe so that he be made accountable."

United States wildlife authorities have also been investigating Cecil's killing, the Star Tribune reports, but have been unable to contact Palmer:

Officials of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said that, even though the African lion is not protected under U.S. law, they share Zimbabwe’s interest in protecting threatened animals. “The investigation will take us wherever the facts lead,” said Edward Grace, the agency’s deputy chief of law enforcement.

Updated July 31 at 1:00 p.m.: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service made contact with Palmer late Thursday, a rep tweeted Friday morning:

Palmer does not appear to have violated any U.S. laws, the Star Tribune says, because the lion he killed is not protected by the Endangered Species Act and he did not attempt to bring its carcass home, which would have been illegal without proper permission. That said, the U.S. allows about 450 lion trophies to be brought stateside from abroad each year.

One of Palmer's guides during the hunt, Theo Bronkhorst, has been charged by Zimbabwe authorities, and another, Honest Trymore Ndlovu, is expected to be charged next week, according to reports. Bronkhorst told the New York Post that Palmer had been hoping to kill "a very large elephant" on his next hunt, but he couldn't find one big enough for the dentist.

President Barack Obama's office is planning a response, officials have said, after a petition related to Cecil on the White House's We The People website garnered over 100,000 signatures (this morning it had over 170,000).

Back at home, Palmer's temporarily shuttered dental practice is still the target of protests by local animal welfare activists. "Rot In Hell" reads one poster placed on the practice's door. "Palmer, there's a deep cavity waiting for you!" says another.

But plenty of activists have other problems with the story of Cecil's killing—particularly the public outcry and media firestorm that's surrounded the issue from day one, which they contrast with the slow-building response to the #BlackLivesMatter movement. And the pro-choice movement. And, well, just about every source of outrage one can think of on any side of the political or religious divide.

The Chicago Reader has a roundup of some of the recent arguments and the befuddled think-pieces and editorials they've spawned so far. The phenomenon has been dubbed "whataboutism" (as in, What about Sandra Bland?)

We think it's fine to cultivate outrage over a lot of things—particularly the unjustifiable deaths of civilians in police custody. Getting angry about Cecil is separate from those causes and quite a bit farther from home, but it still has a place in the news cycle.