In the pictures, taken in September 2006, Mr Palmer was hunting a black bear in northern Wisconsin. He did have a permit to hunt, but he went 40 miles out of the permitted area to shoot a bear. It was then that U.S. Attorney John Vaudreuil said he tried to get others with him to lie. According to ABC, which obtained the photos, Palmer was not only aware of his misdeed, he offered 3 guides who were present $20,000 to lie and say he shot the bear in the permissible area.
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But the guides didn’t lie and in 2008, Palmer pleaded guilty to felony charges of making flase statements to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. He was sentenced to a year of probation and had to pay $2,938 in fines.
The Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority imposed the ban on August. 1 in areas surrounding Hwange National Park in the wake of global outcry over the illegal killing of the iconic Cecil who was a major tourist attraction.
Dr Walter Palmer – who has become notorious around the world for killing the beloved lion – shot the bear with a bow and arrow in Wisconsin, US, in 2006.
Palmer ended up closing his dentistry practice as a result of the backlash and animal rights activists took it one step further, asking the Minnesota Board of Dentistry to investigate the dentist who killed a protected lion in Zimbabwe. In those interviews Palmer falsely stated that he believed he had shot the bear off Taylor Road, and that he thought the bear had been killed legally. He then beheaded the animal and kept the head as a trophy.
Earlier this week, vandals targeted Palmer’s vacation home in southwest Florida, painting the words “lion killer” on the garage door.
While he tried to stay out of sight reports began emerging in the media about the scope of his big game hunting activity in the years before he killed Cecil.
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The photos were released to ABC News by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources following a Freedom of Information request.
