Posted on 09/07/2015 12:18:25 AM PDT by Daffynition
The US dentist whose killing of Cecil the lion fuelled a global backlash has emerged for an interview and says he will return to work on Tuesday.
Walter Palmer has disputed some accounts of the hunt, expressed agitation at the animosity directed at those close to him and says he will be back at work within days.
Palmer, who has spent more than a month out of sight after becoming the target of protests and threats, intends to return to his suburban Minneapolis dental practice on Tuesday.
In an interview on Sunday conducted jointly by The Associated Press and the Minneapolis Star Tribune that advisers said would be the only one granted, Palmer said again that he believes he acted legally and that he was stunned to find out his hunting party had killed one of Zimbabwe's treasured animals.
"If I had known this lion had a name and was important to the country or a study obviously I wouldn't have taken it," Palmer said.
(Excerpt) Read more at sbs.com.au ...
Another drinking thread!
DRINK!
According to the guide, at 9 the next morning when they returned “...and we found it and it was wounded, and the client then shot it, with his bow and arrow, and killed it.”
It was then the hunters went over to it, and saw it had a collar.
“I was devastated,” said Mr Bronkhorst, who immediately saw that he had killed a protected lion.
“I could not have seen the collar at night. We would never shoot a collared animal. I was devastated, and so was the client, we were both upset, and I panicked and took it off and put it in a tree.
*We have bigger fish to fry!*
Yes, we do!
When Cecil the Lion was killed, all gazelles smiled in approval.
The truth may never be known
&&&
I wish I had not learned the truth of the fact that there is a PETA brigade on FR.
It wouldn’t be wise to provoke a dentist, at least until the procedure is finished.
I agree with your post, yet I don’t believe Cecil was a *normal* lion. From the first reports, he was described as an *attraction* at the reserve. Any wild animal that is an attraction has been allowed to get used to/close to humans. Cha-ching. He was a revenue stream for the preserve. I said so, the first day.
From reports, all the guides and license fees were above board. They trailed the animal until it was put down. Anyone ethical who hunts will tell stories of how they had to track an animal that didn’t come down in a clean kill.
You make some very good points, and no, you’ll never convince the detractors.
I’m no fan of trophy hunting either, I see no point in it. I don’t care a thing about ahead on my wall, if I hunt at all it’s for food in the freezer. I got fed up with it and haven’t hunted in 15 years or so but I might start this winter again, squirrels and rabbits are wiping out my peaches, pears, pecans and garden.
From what I’ve read so far, this guy didn’t know his guides were deceiving him, if they did, and didn’t know this was a collared lion that was the subject of research. As some have already said, when you bait a spot, you have no idea which animal will take the bait. It could have been any one individual in the area.
Bow hunting is not easy, and you have to get very close, I’ve known plenty bow hunters who have had to track deer for long distances if they don’t get a great shot. I’ve shot rabbits with a .22 rifle that ran off and had to be shot again, and a deer that ran at least 200 yards before dropping, with a gun. A deer my uncle shot was shot again and killed by another hunter, who we knew, a mile away.
It’s actually pretty common for animals in a hunt to not drop in their tracks. Even a deer shot through the heart can run 100 yards before oxygen and adrenaline run out. That’s not much distance for a deer...they cover 50 yards in 5 or 6 hops in an emergency situation. I’ve seen them clear 15 feet in one hop plenty times. A scared and injured lion is no different.
I’m not defending the “big game hunter”, I have no use for trophy hunting, just trying to get people to understand a little about what actually happens, and also to realize we don’t actually have all the facts still.
The locals were surprised by all the uproar here. To them it’s just another lion. Their villages are attacked by lions from time to time, their attitude was “what’s all the fuss about”?
As far as I’ve been able to find out, he wasn’t aware that the lion was a “celebrity” at least to tourists, or that it was collared at all, which can be easily hidden by the mane. He was involved in a legal hunt, baiting is apparently a common tactic, he didn’t know they were baiting a lion from a reserve. And any lion could have taken the bait, it’s impossible to target a specific animal.
I guess my main point is it’s not our responsibility to decide this case, that’s up to the courts and we don’t have all the evidence to make any decision. Same as in Ferguson last summer, the police officer was convicted in public opinion long before we had enough evidence to even think about making a decision. Protests and riots were well underway the same night, long before anyone knew for sure Michael Brown was resisting arrest, attacked the officer, and did not have his hands up, that was an outright lie.
Same here, we don’t have all the info, all we have is what the liberal media tells us. How much of the drivel they spew forth do you really think you can believe?
“The fact that he followed up the next day says volumes a non-hunter would never understand.”
He could have the upmost respect for hunting, but in any case anyone who spends 50K or so to hunt a lion with a bow is probably prepared to follow up.
Freegards
It’s time to DRINK!
"The 55-year-old Minnesota man—who became reviled worldwide after he illegally bagged Cecil the lion just outside Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park last month—was busted by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agents for taking an illicit trophy in Wisconsin.
Palmer, a veteran bow hunter, shot and killed a huge black bear during a September 2006 trek through the wilds of northern Wisconsin.
Palmer pleaded guilty to a felony charge of making false statements in relation to the bear killing in 2008, officials said.
Decked out in camouflage gear, Palmer knelt next to the bear corpse, propped his bow on its lifeless body and posed with his prize in a photo obtained from the Wisconsin Department Natural Resources by ABC News.
The grinning Palmer had a permit to kill one black bear in one Wisconsin county, but the animal he shot was reportedly 40 miles beyond the county line.
U.S. Attorney John Vaudreuil said Palmer knew what he did was wrong and offered three guides on the hunt $20,000 to lie about where the bear was killed.
“He was lying to us,” Vaudreuil told ABC’s 20/20. “He was offering to pay, it turns out, about $20,000 to keep the others who were in the hunt, to have them lie, so that’s a fairly aggressive cover-up.”
But the guides didn’t lie.
Palmer pleaded guilty to a felony charge of making false statements in 2008, officials said. He was fined $3,000 and put on one year’s probation.
His latest trophy created a backlash that forced Palmer into hiding in the U.S. and have Zimbabweans pushing for prosecution."
**.......great pain in its killing****
I submit, that perhaps you have never shot a large game animal.
He was with a guide who by his own admission attempted to destroy the collar upon follow up. That is surely a crime in itself regardless of intent or knowledge at the time of the initial hunt.
Some single lions are responsible for killing as many as 70 villagers. Now guess what the villagers do to end their kids being mauled to death by lions? Another reason those in the area say “err what?” when asked about poor Cecil.
You cannot be serious.
Your hatred of hunters makes your conclusions suspect. He paid 50k to be guided. When you are guided the GUIDE assumes all responsibility for the hunts validity. Funny. The only normal person from Africa who I have heard resoinding to this story said that his first reaction to the story was - Good, one less predator to eat the children.
*... knelt next to the bear corpse, propped his bow on its lifeless body and posed...*
Paaaaaaaaleeze!....I’ll get my waders on. {{{killer smile}}}
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