Yes they went hunting at night with a spotlight at the sanctuary and spotted cecil, and lured him out of the park, where he was protected by law, with a dead animal dragged from the car. Cecil followed. Palmer then took his bad shot, the lion took off wounded, and they tracked him for 40 hours, then he shot him and the lion was skinned and beheaded. Then they attempted to hide the tracking collar. He wanted a lion in his collection so bad! Then he pins it on the guides.
And cecil being such a gorgeous animal...all Palmer could see was that head in his special building, behind the bar.
Are you saying he did this completely independent of their knowledge or assistance? Some dentist from America goes halfway around the world and breaks game laws all by himself?
If events are as you have posted, someone helped him.
If the guides or professional hunters did, it's their asses.
They are the first line of defense against breaking game laws, and are free to choose to NOT participate in an unethical or illegal hunt.
Doing anything otherwise imperils the very industry they make a living at, and no one hunt will provide them with FTW money.