Dr Palmer said he has not heard from US or Zimbabwean authorities over possible poaching charges and was not aware of Cecil’s status until after he was dead.
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Following the now-viral segment, Kimmel has been busy tweeting other celebrities, including Ariana Grande and Marlee Matlin, who have taken up the cause.
According to a Facebook post, the professional hunter enlisted for the safari, Theo Bronkhorst, has had his membership for the Zimbabwe Professional Hunters and Guides Association suspended indefinitely.
Palmer said in his statement he had not been contacted by authorities in Zimbabwe or the United States and would assist in any inquiries. Look up Cecil the lion on the internet and you will soon see Mr Palmer’s smiling face over the top of Cecil’s lifeless corpse.
Bronkhorst, the founder of Bushman Safaris, appeared before magistrate Lindiwe Maphosa in Hwange, about 380 miles from the capital Harare.
The beloved lion was known to be friendly to humans, and helped bring tourists to Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park.
Palmer shot Cecil in early July in Zimbabwe after hiring a pair of local guides to bait the animal out of the conservation park.
Meanwhile, Palmer has shuttered his dental practice and a makeshift memorial of stuffed animals has amassed in front of the Bloomington, Minn.
Police spokeswoman Charity Charamba said “we are looking for Palmer” who allegedly paid ,000 for a big game permit and traveled from his home town of Minneapolis to Africa in order to murder a lion.
A conservation group says the men had tied a dead animal to their vehicle to lure the lion out of a national park.
Zimbabwean landowner Honest Ndlovu, on whose farm Cecil was killed by American dentist Walter Palmer, appeared in court charged with allowing an illegal hunt on his land.
Cecil is believed to have been killed on July 1 and his carcass discovered days later.
In Minnesota, the attention forced Palmer to close his office and send patients elsewhere while he remained out of sight, his exact whereabouts unknown.
The lion, known as Cecil, had been collared as part of a research study. The wounded cat was then tracked for 40 hours before Palmer fatally shot him with a gun, he added.
“I deeply regret that my pursuit of an activity I love and practice responsibly and legally resulted in the taking of this lion”, he said. Corresponding pages featuring photos of him with an African lion, a southern white rhinoceros and an African elephant remained accessible on the club’s website.
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Conservationists say Cecil’s death will likely lead to the deaths of his cubs as rival male lions try to take over his now unprotected pride.
