Dr. Walter Palmer, a Minnesota dentist, wrote a letter to his patients this week apologizing for the inconvenience caused by his temporarily closing his office after he killed Cecil the lion in Zimbabwe, according to TIME.
Despite his apology, Palmer’s killing of the beloved lion has yet to be forgiven by many.
PETA President Ingrid Newkirk recently expressed his outrage regarding Palmer’s recent hunt in a statement to E! News.
"Hunting is a coward's pastime. If, as has been reported, this dentist and his guides lured Cecil out of the park with food so as to shoot him on private property, because shooting him in the park would have been illegal, he needs to be extradited, charged, and, preferably, hanged,” Newkirk’s statement read.
“To get a thrill at the cost of a life, this man gunned down a beloved lion, Cecil with a high-powered weapon. All wild animals are beloved by their own mates and infants, but to hunters like this overblown, over-privileged little man, who lack empathy, understanding, and respect for living creatures, they are merely targets to kill, decapitate, and hang up on a wall as a trophy. The photograph of this dentist, smiling over the corpse of another animal, who, like Cecil, wanted only to be left in peace, will disgust every caring soul in the world."
River Bluff Dental has reportedly taken down its Facebook page and website while the dentist’s Yelp page continues to be filled with hate messages. Protesters have also reportedly gathered outside Palmer’s dental practice.
The guides that accompanied Palmer during what the dentist claims was “a legal hunt,” Theo Bronkhorst and Honest Ndlovu, could reportedly face poaching charges. Wildlife officials have reportedly accused the two men “of taking $50,000 from Palmer in order to coax Cecil out of the Hwange National Park and onto private land, where he was beheaded and skinned,” according to NBC News.
If found guilty, the men could reportedly be fined $20,000 and each face a sentence of up to 10 years in jail.
Palmer reportedly has yet to be contacted by authorities in Zimbabwe or in the U.S., according to his recent letter to his patients.
However, the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority reportedly said in a statement that the killing of Cecil was likely illegal.
“Ongoing investigations to date, suggest that the killing of the lion was illegal since the land owner was not allocated a lion on his hunting quota for 2015. Therefore, all persons implicated in this case are due to appear in court facing poaching charges,” the statement read.
