Cecil the lion killing: Walter Palmer, U.S. dentist, won't be charged

Zimbabwe will not charge anAmerican dentist for killing its most prized lion in Julybecause he had obtained legal authority to conduct the hunt, acabinet minister said on Monday.

Palmer, a lifelong big-game hunter from Minnesota, stoked aglobal controversy when he killed Cecil, a rareblack-manedlion, with a bow and arrow outsideHwangeNational Park inWestern Zimbabwe.

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But Palmer's hunting papers were in order, EnvironmentMinister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri said on Monday.

Consequently,he could not be charged.

"We approached the police and then the prosecutor general,and it turned out that Palmer came to Zimbabwe because all thepapers were in order," Muchinguri-Kashiri told reporters.

Muchinguri Kashiri said Palmer was free to visit Zimbabwe asa tourist but not as a hunter, and Zimbabwe was no longer pressing for his extradition. The implication was he would notbe issued the permits a hunter needs.

Zimbabwe's police and the National Prosecuting Authority had cleared Palmer of wrongdoing, she said.

Two more people still face charges related to Cecil'skilling. Both allegedly were involved in using bait to lure
Cecil out of his habitat in Hwange National Park so he could bekilled.

Theo Bronkhorst, a professional hunter in Zimbabwe, ischarged with breaching hunting rules in connection with the huntin which Cecil was killed. A game park owner is also chargedwith allowing an illegal hunt. Both have denied the charges.

Bronkhorst is expected to appear in a Hwange court onThursday where a magistrate will rule on a request by his lawyers that his indictment be quashed.

Palmer, 55, has previously said that the hunt was legal andno one in the hunting party realized the targeted lion was
Cecil, a well-known tourist attraction in the park.

Palmer could not be reached immediately for comment on the environment minister's statement to reporters.