Animal behavior

A dentist should pay for killing a protected lion

Walter Palmer, the Minnesota dentist who killed a beloved and protected lion in Zimbabwe this month, has ruined his reputation and closed his practice. He should lose something else — his freedom.

It’s unclear whether the big-game hunter who broke the law on a past hunt can be prosecuted for killing Cecil, a 13-year-old lion that was being studied by Oxford University researchers and lived on a wildlife sanctuary. But Americans who use dubious means to bag imperiled animals in other countries deserve jail time.

Mr. Palmer admitted hunting and killing Cecil earlier this month, but he claimed he did not know the animal was a much-photographed favorite of visitors to Hwange National Park. He reportedly paid $50,000 to track and kill the black-maned lion and said he had the required licenses.

Accounts say his guides tied a dead animal to the hood of their vehicle to lure their prey, which is considered unethical by the Safari Operators Association of Zimbabwe. The dentist is believed to have wounded Cecil with a crossbow, then he trailed it for 40 hours and killed it with a gunshot. Cecil was decapitated and skinned, the carcass left behind on private land.

Mr. Palmer said he didn’t realize Cecil was a protected lion and blamed his guide, who was charged this week by authorities with failing to prevent an unlawful hunt. He was released Wednesday on $1,000 bail. If convicted, the guide could get 15 years in prison.

The rich big-game hunters who pay for illegal expeditions must face consequences, too. Zimbabwe police say they are looking for Mr. Palmer and, if charged, the country could request that he be extradited. The dentist, whose previous kills reportedly include a polar bear and an elephant, was sentenced in 2008 to a year’s probation and a $3,000 fine for lying to federal authorities about killing a bear in Wisconsin.

Wildlife legal experts appear to be divided on whether he can be prosecuted for Cecil’s killing under American laws.

According to Business Insider, the Endangered Species Act, which extends strict protection to animals, may not apply, but one lawyer believes the Lacey Act, which forbids trafficking in illegally obtained wildlife, even in foreign countries, could be relevant.

Minnesota Congresswoman Betty McCollum has called for the Justice Department to examine

Legal trophy hunting claims an estimated 600 lions a year, and Americans may be responsible for 64 percent of them.

whether Mr. Palmer broke any U.S. laws. She’s right to pressure authorities on trying to prosecute him, but Congress must also take a broader view — the United States needs a clear and tough statute to prohibit Americans from hunting protected animals in any country.

One way to curb the killing is to forbid Americans from bringing home animal trophies. Legal trophy hunting is estimated to claim 600 lions a year or 2 percent of the population. The International Fund for Animal Welfare said in a 2011 report that Americans were responsible for about 64 percent of all lion trophy kills.

With an interest in expanding the tourist trade, African leaders such as Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe are not likely to stop the lucrative flow of wealthy, western hunters who turn their wildernesses into killing fields. But an unflinching approach by U.S. justice can alter this cruel landscape. The mindless slaughter of threatened animals must come to end.