Walter Palmer, the Minnesota dentist who killed a beloved and protected lion in Zimbabwe last month, has ruined his reputation and closed his practice.
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Theo Bronkhorst appeared in a court in Hwange town, where he faces charges of failing to prevent an unlawful hunt.
Cecil the lion is pictured in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe, in 2010. It wandered, injured, for 40 hours before Palmer finished it off.
The case was postponed to September. “To go out like that and stalk after wounding him, that’s not real hunting“.
Animal-rights activists denied any involvement. He has said that he “deeply regrets” killing Cecil and believed that the hunt was legal. That was never the intention.
“Cecil the lion, I think, is something which is a tragedy and something that was horrifying”, he told the World at One. “They seem to have Minnesota circled on the map and I think I saw one lion on the phone on hold with SouthWest”.
Bronkhorst, who wore dark glasses and a cap, mounted the same argument Wednesday.
He also attacked the prosecution against him as “frivolous” and said hunting in Zimbabwe must continue because it is “integral” to conservation efforts in the country. He said he hung the collar in a tree, instead of turning it in to wildlife authorities. He was then skinned and beheaded.
He has not been charged by authorities in the US or Zimbabwe, although the African nation is seeking his extradition.
Under a 1998 treaty between the two countries – which have not enjoyed cordial relations in the latter stages of Mugabe’s 36 years in charge – a person can be extradited if they are accused of an offence that carries more than a year in prison.
Cecil was shot in July by US dentist Walter Palmer. After speaking with animal science professor and author Temple Grandin, the director of Oxford’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit and a regional director of the global Fund for Animal Welfare, Here & Now’s Robin Young gets a hunter’s perspective.
Whether they are stalking lions or elephants in the African savannah, or trying to bag bighorn sheep in the Rocky Mountains, law-abiding hunters of such exotic animals pay handsomely for the privilege.
“My client is not guilty”, Muvhiringi said outside the courthouse. Chances are they contain palm oil, which is devastating forests in Indonesia and Malaysia and is killing orangutans. “There’s big money in that”. “I am suggesting that this is where your ethics evaporate”. The lion trophy has also been confiscated.
My excitement was doused when I realized that the lion killer was being painted as the villain. 458 should be the weapon used. Now if you try to entice him to come out of the park by baiting, that is illegal.
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The first arrow, shot by Palmer, only wounded the lion.
