Zimpapers Logo

Walter Palmer

Crime Reporter
AMERICAN dentist James Walter Palmer, who killed lion Cecil in Hwange early last month, has reopened his surgery in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, in the US.

According to the Mail Online, the 55-year old was caught on camera last week for the first time since he went into hiding.

Palmer was seen in a red T-shirt and blue jeans while walking through the neighbourhood near his home in Eden Prairie yesterday afternoon.

Both Zimbabwe and the US governments are considering legal action against him after it emerged he was responsible for killing the 13-year-old lion during an illicit hunt in the country.

Palmer has also been reported to have killed a veritable herd of other animals including moose, deer, buffalo, mountain lions and polar bears.

He also got into trouble after killing a black bear in Wisconsin without a licence.

In 2008, Palmer pleaded guilty to felony charges of making false statements to the US Fish and Wildlife Service about the bear after shooting the animal outside of the authorised hunting zone.

As part of his plea agreement, he only paid $2 938 out of a potential $250 000 fine and also got a year of probation.

Cecil, who was being studied by Oxford University, was shot with a crossbow before being skinning and beheaded.

Palmer reportedly paid $50 000 so that he could carry out the killing.

The Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force said Palmer tied a dead animal to a car to lure the lion out of a national park before shooting him.

The wounded lion was found 40 hours later and shot dead.

The Mail Online reported that a newly employed security guard was hired

to stand at the door of Palmer’s Minnesota practice and he was at the building in Bloomington on Monday last week.