Lion killer cancels patients as clinic besieged

A dentist who has become the target of worldwide outrage for killing a lion in Zimbabwe named Cecil has advised his patients to seek care elsewhere as he remained in hiding amid protests at his US clinic.

Walter Palmer, 55, has faced protests at his clinic in Minneapolis, Minnesota, as well as intense condemnation online. He is an active big-game hunter, with many kills to his name. The North Dakota native “enjoys all outdoor activities”, according to the biography page on his now-dark clinic website. “Anything allowing him to stay active and observe and photograph wildlife is where you will find Dr Palmer when he not in the office.”

Meanwhile in Zimbabwe, a hunting guide and a farm owner appeared in court accused of helping Dr Palmer kill the lion. The head of Zimbabwe’s safari association said the lion with the black mane was lured into the kill zone and denied “a chance of a fair chase”.

The Zimbabwean men were accused of aiding Dr Palmer, who reportedly paid £32,000 (€45,000) to track and kill a lion.

The dentist referenced the situation in a note to his patients. “I understand and respect that not everyone shares the same views on hunting,” he said in the letter, obtained by the local Fox television affiliate KMSP.

The married father of two was the subject of a 2009 New York Times article about big-game hunting in which he said he learned to shoot at the age of five.

The article said Dr Palmer had a reputation for being capable of “skewering a playing card from 100 yards” with a compound bow and having “a purist’s reputation for his disinclination to carry firearms as back-up”.During the night-time hunt, the Zimbabwean 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 the lion with a crossbow.

The wounded cat was then tracked for 40 hours before Dr Palmer fatally shot him with a gun, Mr Rodrigues said.