HARARE, Zimbabwe | A hunting guide and a farm owner appeared in court Wednesday on allegations they helped an American dentist kill a protected lion named Cecil, and the head of Zimbabwe’s safari association said the big cat was unethically lured into the kill zone and denied “a chance of a fair chase.”
The Zimbabwean men were accused of aiding Walter James Palmer, who reportedly paid $50,000 to track and kill the black-maned lion. Zimbabwe police have said they are looking for Palmer, whose exact whereabouts were unknown.
During the nighttime hunt, the men tied a dead animal to their car to draw the lion out of a national park, said Johnny Rodrigues, chairman of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force.
The American is believed to have shot it with a crossbow, injuring the cat. The wounded lion was tracked for 40 hours before Palmer fatally shot it with a gun, Rodrigues said.
A professional hunter named Theo Bronkhorst was accused of failing to “prevent an unlawful hunt.” Court documents say Bronkhorst was supervising while Palmer shot the animal.
Bronkhorst was released on $1,000 bail after appearing at the Hwange magistrate’s court, about 435 miles (700 kilometers) west of the capital Harare, according to his defense lawyer, Givemore Muvhiringi.
If convicted, Bronkhorst faces up to 15 years in prison.
A second man, farm owner Honest Trymore Ndlovu, also appeared in court but was not charged and was released from custody, his lawyer Tonderai Makuku said.
The court documents made no mention of Palmer as a suspect.
Using bait to lure the lion is deemed unethical by the Safari Operators Association of Zimbabwe, of which Bronkhorst is a member. The association has since revoked his license.
“Ethics are certainly against baiting. Animals are supposed to be given a chance of a fair chase,” Emmanuel Fundira, the association’s president, said Tuesday. “In fact, it was not a hunt at all. The animal was baited, and that is not how we do it. It is not allowed.”
Palmer, a dentist living in the Minneapolis suburb of Eden Prairie, said in a statement that he was unaware the lion was protected and relied on his guides to ensure a legal hunt.
“I had no idea that the lion I took was a known, local favorite, was collared and part of a study until the end of the hunt,” Palmer said in statement through a public-relations firm.
The lion’s death stirred outrage worldwide.
If the animal was lured out of the park with food to be shot on private property, Palmer “needs to be extradited, charged and, preferably, hanged,” People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said Wednesday in a statement. The statement emailed to The Associated Press came from Ingrid Newkirk, the group’s president.
Social media were filled with condemnation of the killing just outside Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park. On Twitter, the hashtag cecilthelion was in wide use.
Palmer remained secluded Wednesday in the face of protests at his clinic and the online furor.
The dentist, who has not appeared in public since being identified Tuesday as a party to the lion’s death, advised patients of the situation in a note, telling them they would be referred to other dentists for the time being.
“I don’t often talk about hunting with my patients because it can be a divisive and emotionally charged topic. I understand and respect that not everyone shares the same views on hunting,” the letter obtained by the local Fox TV affiliate said.
Palmer has several hunts on record with the Minnesota-based Pope and Young Club, where archers register big game taken in North America, said Glenn Hisey, the club’s director of records. Hisey said he didn’t have immediate access to records showing the types and number of animals killed by Palmer, but noted that club records involve legal hunts “taken under our rules of fair chase.”
According to U.S. court records, Palmer pleaded guilty in 2008 to making false statements to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service about a black bear he fatally shot in western Wisconsin. Palmer had a permit to hunt but shot the animal outside the authorized zone in 2006, then tried to pass it off as being killed elsewhere, according to court documents. He was given one year probation and fined nearly $3,000.
Hisey said he alerted the group’s board that Palmer’s ethics were being called into question. He said Palmer’s domestic records could be jeopardized if he’s found to have done something illegal abroad.
Cecil was being studied by an Oxford University research program. He is believed to have been killed July 1 and his carcass discovered days later by trackers.
TV host Jimmy Kimmel paid emotional tribute to Cecil on Tuesday on his late-night show. After recounting details of the lion’s death, Kimmel invited viewers to contribute to a wildlife fund.
“If you want to make this into a positive “— then, choking up, he halted for a moment to regain his composure — “make a donation and support them. At the very least, maybe we can show the world that not all Americans are like this jack-hole here.”
Bakst reported from St. Paul, Minnesota.
Associated Press writers Amy Forliti in Bloomington, Minnesota and Frazier Moore in New York contributed to this report.
Meanwhile an organization is dismembering thousands of babies every day in the womb and sell their body parts.
Perhaps dentists make too much money for their own good, as they can afford to spend 50 grand just on a license to shoot exotic animals and then hire a troop of hunting guides and handlers. No wonder it costs a thousand bucks to crown a tooth, a one hour procedure.
““If you want to make this into a positive “— then, choking up, he halted
for a moment to regain his composure — “make a donation and support
them. At the very least, maybe we can show the world that not all
Americans are like this jack-hole here.”– Hahaha, what a mewling twerp. He and every other white European/American crying about this had no clue Cecil even existed before this week. Now we get a few days of these narcissists trying to outdo each other in their anthropomorphizing of a lion (“OH NO HE KILLED MUFASA!!”) that they couldn’t have cared less about just four days ago.
Drop these cretins in the bush for about a month and I guarantee they’ll come out with a far less romantic view of “those magnificent creatures!!” than they did before. Simba doesn’t seem so cool when he and all his buddies in nature are trying to eat your face on a daily basis.
I am not taking sides in this, but it would appear that if you pay $50,000 to professional guide, in another country, they would be responsible to comply with the requirements, and be fully knowledgeable of those requirements. Hunter should be advised of any restriction, but not responsible for knowing them. Owner of property where hunt (shooting) take places certainly would be expected to comply also. —– While in Air Force, in eastern Ohio, I went to a pheasant hunting area, run by state of Ohio. Pheasants were raised within that area, and so many were released before daylight around outer perimeter of very large area. We hunters paid a fee, listened to lecture of state ranger, then transported to different locations, dropped off with others of our party, and we started hunting. As I said, very large, varying heights and wooded – open areas, so was safe, using shotguns, with bird shot. Not as good as hunting on own lands, but I was not living near my family farm. But in no way was I responsible for anything, unless I violated their instructions, given by the ranger – also given handout with same info.
I don’t see where the Dentist (hunter) would be responsible, and suspect he is victim of outrage by emotional women, and non-hunters. Any hunter knows the release of hunting, whether you find game, or kill any. Just being out in open, with possibility is relaxing. And my hunting-fishing license charges fund animals-fish-birds to be seen and exclaimed over by others, and for the future. Without those funds, no game rangers, and poachers will decimate the animal population.