zimbabwe on friday called for the extraditionof walter palmer, the trophy hunter from minnesota who has gone into hiding amid a global outpouringof anger after he shot cecil the lion. palmer allegedly paid $50,000 for the huntearlier this month in which he shot the lion with a powerful bow and arrow at night, closeto hwange national park in the west of zimbabwe. cecil, who had a distinctive black mane, wasa popular tourist attraction at the park and
How To Adopt A Baby In Zimbabwe, was also wearing a tracking collar as partof a university of oxford research project. "we are appealing to the responsible authoritiesfor (palmer's) extradition to zimbabwe so that he can be made accountable for his illegalactions," environment minister oppah muchinguri told reporters in harare.
"it was too late to apprehend the foreignpoacher as he had already absconded to his country of origin." palmer, who is also being investigated bythe us fish and wildlife service over cecil's killing, has apologised and said he was misledby professional guide theo bronkhorst. bronkhorst, who organised the expedition,was granted bail by the hwange court on wednesday after being charged with "failing to preventan illegal hunt". muchinguri gave a political spin to cecil'sdeath. "palmer, being an american citizen, had awell-orchestrated agenda which would tarnish the image of zimbabwe and further strain therelation between zimbabwe and the united states,"
she alleged. the us imposed sanctions including travelbans and asset freezes on long-ruling president robert mugabe and members of his inner circleafter 2002 elections which western observers said were rigged. muchinguri said that palmer, bronkhorst andthe landowner were guilty of illegally "poaching" the lion, which was allegedly lured out ofthe national park with an elephant carcass. she said cecil was "an iconic attraction...which we had successfully managed to look after both in terms of conservation and protectionfrom a cub to a fully-grown lion of 13 years." in an interview with the british telegraph,bronkhorst told how palmer was only in zimbabwe
for a few days, and had also wanted to shoota large elephant. "a huge male -- cecil -- came into view...he was a magnificent animal," bronkhorst said, describing the hunt. "the client then fired using a bow and arrow,and it went away into the long grass." cecil was only injured, and the next day theytracked it down and palmer shot it. bronkhorst said they were both shocked todiscover the collar. "i could not have seen the collar at night.we would never shoot a collared animal. i was devastated, and so was the client, wewere both upset, and i panicked and took it off and put it in a tree," he said.
bronkhorst admitted he should have taken thecollar to the authorities, and added that the hunt "went wrong from the beginning" whenthey had to change location at the last minute. about 50,000 visitors -- half of them fromabroad -- visit the hwange park every year, and cecil was a much-photographed star attraction. palmer's dental practice in minnesota hasbeen the scene of protests against cecil's death, with crowds leaving toys of lions,tigers and monkeys outside the building. a sign reading "rot in hell" was plasteredon the office door. one animal rights charity called for palmerto be hanged.
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