Walter Palmer, the Minnesota dentist who killed Zimbabwe's famed Cecil the Lion during a hunt that sparked a global outrage, spoke up for the first time since the incident.
The 55-year-old dentist reiterated that the killing of Cecil was legal and that neither he nor anyone in his hunting party was aware that Cecil was an iconic figure in Hwange National Park. He also said he did not see the black-maned lion's GPS collar, which Oxford University put on the animal for a study, because the hunt was done at nighttime and the collar was covered by Cecil's thick mane, The Telegraph reports.
"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. "Nobody in our hunting party knew before or after the name of this lion."
Palmer denied claims that after he shot Cecil the Lion with an arrow and failed to kill him, the wounded Cecil wandered for 40 hours before he was spotted and killed with a rifle. He explained that Cecil was found the following day and was finished off with an arrow, according to The Telegraph.
The dentist said he had been "heartbroken" over how the issue caused disruption in the lives of his clinic staff. His clinic had to be closed for weeks and was reopened only in late August. He also shared how the people's animosity toward him caused his wife and daughter to feel threatened.
"I don't understand that level of humanity to come after people not involved at all," Palmer told Associated Press.
Yet, after being away from the public eye for more than a month and in spite of being vilified in social media, Palmer announced he is going back to his dental practice on Tuesday.
"I'm a health professional. I need to get back to my staff and my patients, and they want me back," Palmer told CNN. "That's why I'm back."
Some officials from Zimbabwe said they want to extradite Palmer, but no move has been made public about it at this time and Palmer has not been formally charged for the killing of Cecil.
