Social-media shaming for lion-hunting US dentist
It was a point of pride for Minnesotan dentist and big-game hunter Walter Palmer to shoot his prey with a crossbow and not carry firearms as a back-up.
But Palmer’s ‘‘purist’’ approach seems to have spelt a slow, painful death for one of Zimbabwe’s most beloved animals.
It is alleged Cecil the lion was lured out of the Hwange National Park with bait before the dentist shot him with a crossbow.
The Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force said the hunters then tracked him for another 40 hours before finishing him off with a rifle, skinning and beheading him.
Now the hunter has become the hunted. The dentist who paid US$50,000 (NZ$74,500) for the kill has been branded as ‘‘the most hated man on the internet’’ amid an outpouring of rage and grief at the lion’s grisly death.
The 13 year-old lion with a distinctive black-tinged mane has become a world-wide trending topic on social media.
The Yelp and Google review pages of Palmer’s dental practice were inundated with angry comment and his Facebook page and company website were taken down.
In a stampede of angry tweets, this one from Anne Wheaton was among the milder: ‘‘If someone kills a lion for sport, he should be judged by a group of the dead lion’s peers in a pit with no way out.’’
Palmer said in a statement he ‘‘deeply regrets’’ killing Cecil but insisted he was acting legally.
‘‘I had no idea that the lion I took was a known, local favourite, was collared and part of a study until the end of the hunt,’’ he said.
‘‘I relied on the expertise of my local professional guide to ensure a legal hunt. To my knowledge, everything about this trip was legal and properly handled and conducted.’’
One of the professional hunters hired by Palmer was to appear before a magistrate in Hwange.
There was speculation Palmer could be extradited to Zimbabwe, but his statement said he was yet to hear from Zimbabwean or US authorities.
Cecil was part of a lion population study being carried out by Oxford University.
‘‘Cecil was the most confident lion you ever met,’’ Brett Stapelkamp, a researcher with the project, said. ‘‘He knew he was the biggest on the block.’’
Stapelkamp described how Cecil was first identified in 2008 or 2009, when he was spotted at a watering hole on the southern boundary of Hwange park.
Local media reported Palmer’s dental practice was closed and a note on the door referred visitors to a public relations firm.