Well, it’s Monday the 7th September 2015 and Dr Walter Palmer should be back at his workplace, his dental practice, sometime during this week. He has said he intends to return tomorrow, Tuesday 8th 2015. It will be a memorable day and one I hope he regrets! Sorry if that sounds a bit mean but I cannot forgive him for his callous and cruel behavior in killing Zimbabwe’s most famous lion and tourist attraction.
I expect he is mentally preparing himself for the moment he enters his workplace. I expect he’ll have security personnel scanning the area for hostile Cecil advocates before the arrives. Just in case.
Walter Palmer has said he is frustrated at the animosity which has been directed towards people close to him. Dr Palmer gave a 25 minute interview to The Associated Press and the Minneapolis Star on condition that is was not filmed and photos were forbidden. In it he reiterated that he believed that he had acted legally. His adviser, Joe Friedberg, was present (a legal advisor and Minneapolis attorney). Apparently, Palmer fiddled with his hands and looked intensely at his interviewers. He said he was stunned to discover that he had been involved in the killing of Cecil, Zimbabwe’s most famous wild animal.
He said:
“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….Nobody in our hunting party knew before or after the name of this lion.”
This means he has no qualms about killing lions or other animals for pleasure. It’s just that he wouldn’t have killed Cecil if he’d known it was Cecil because it would cause all kinds of problems…which it did!
I don’t think that is a very good statement by Palmer. It won’t make anyone more sympathetic towards him and his behavior. For millions of people, it does not excuse his behavior. He said it to get sympathy I suppose. It won’t work.
Palmer also said that the reports that the coup de grâce was administered by someone else with a gun, after his arrow had failed to kill the lion, are false. He says that Cecil was finished off the next day with another arrow. Therefore I presume it was him who finished off Cecil. If this is true it undermines his earlier statement that he is distraught at the mistaken killing of Cecil. It would also confirm to us his blood lust and determination to be the killer.
The world is still waiting for news about Palmer’s extradition to Zimbabwe to face trial as he allegedly committed a crime there in killing Cecil outside of the Hwange National Park’s protection.
Friedberg said:
“I’m not Walter’s lawyer in this situation because Walter doesn’t need a lawyer in this situation….If some governmental agency or investigative unit would make a claim that he violated some law then we’d talk about it.”
I suspect a lot of effort is being expended in high places to stop extradition and prevent any criminal proceedings taking place in America (he has potentially acted illegally pursuant to American criminal law as well). I would expect sport hunting supporters to be working behind the scenes to get him off. And a lot of sport hunters have influence.
Palmer said he feels safe to return to work:
“My staff and my patients support me and they want me back….I’ve been out of the public eye. That doesn’t mean I’m in hiding,” Palmer said. “I’ve been among people, family and friends. Location is really not that important.”
He has spent the last 6 weeks off work because of the mass outcry against him. He has been vilified and continues to be so online.
Asked if he’d return to Zimbabwe to hunt again, Palmer responded:
“I don’t know about the future….Zimbabwe has been a wonderful country for me to hunt in, and I have always followed the laws.”
Others have different opinions. He has not always followed the laws regarding his hunting because he was found guilty if making false statements to the US Fish and Wildlife Service about the killing of a black bear in Western Wisconsin. He was punished for that infraction.
I wonder if Cecil’s advocates have made arrangements to peacefully demonstrate outside Palmer’s dental practice this week?
Please comment on Facebook to spread the word. Please click “Also post on Facebook”. Thanks:
Source: nbcnews.com and my thanks to Elisa for telling me about this development.
So, he’s gotten away scot free with his horrific deed. That sends a horrible message to the public.
No, I don’t think wanting Palmer to suffer is mean. He should pay for what he did.
In a better world justice would be easier to come by.
Yep. In a better world Palmer and his cronies wouldn’t have murdered Cecil in the first place.