U.S. hunter of lion wanted in Zimbabwe

HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Zimbabwean police said Tuesday that they are searching for an American who shot a well-known, protected lion known as Cecil with a crossbow in a killing that has angered conservationists and others.

Authorities on Tuesday said two Zimbabwean men will appear in court, accused of helping lure the lion outside its protected area to kill it. The American faces poaching charges, according to police spokesman Charity Charamba.

The American reportedly paid $50,000 to hunt the lion, Zimbabwean conservationists said, though the hunter and his local partners maintain they didn't know the lion they killed was protected.

The Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force and the Safari Operators Association of Zimbabwe identified the hunter as Walter James Palmer, which police later confirmed.

"We arrested two people, and now we are looking for Palmer in connection with the same case," said Charamba.

Palmer released a statement through a public relations firm after being identified by officials as the American involved in the hunt. Palmer, an avid hunter from Minnesota, said he thought everything about his trip was legal and wasn't aware of the animal's status "until the end of the hunt."

"I had no idea that the lion I took was a known, local favorite, was collared and part of a study until the end of the hunt. I relied on the expertise of my local professional guides to ensure a legal hunt," said Palmer, a dentist who lives in the Minneapolis suburb of Eden Prairie.

Palmer said Tuesday that he hadn't heard from U.S. or Zimbabwean authorities.

Emmanuel Fundira, the president of the Safari Operators Association of Zimbabwe, said at a news conference that Palmer's whereabouts were unknown.

Attempts to reach Palmer, 55, at his two listed home numbers and his office by phone and in person were unsuccessful.

According to U.S. court records, Palmer pleaded guilty in 2008 to making false statements to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service about a black bear he fatally shot in western Wisconsin.

Palmer had a permit to hunt but shot the animal outside the authorized zone in 2006, then the animal was killed elsewhere, according to court documents. He was given a year of probation and fined nearly $3,000.

The two arrested Zimbabwean men -- a professional hunter and a farm owner -- face poaching charges, the Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Authority and the Safari Operators Association said in a joint statement. Killing the lion was illegal because the farm owner did not have a hunting permit, the joint statement said. The hunters tried to destroy the lion's collar, fitted with a tracking device, but failed, the statement said.

If convicted, the men face up to 15 years in prison.

The lion is thought to have been killed July 1 in western Zimbabwe's wildlife-rich Hwange region, its carcass discovered days later by trackers, the statement said.

The Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force said in a statement that an American paid $50,000 for the hunt. During a nighttime hunt, the men tied a dead animal to their car to lure the lion out of a national park, said Johnny Rodrigues, chairman of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force. The American is believed to have shot it with a crossbow, injuring the animal. The wounded lion was found 40 hours later and shot dead with a gun, Rodrigues said in the statement.

"The saddest part of all is that now that Cecil is dead, the next lion in the hierarchy, Jericho, will most likely kill all Cecil's cubs," Rodrigues said.

The Zimbabwean hunter accused in the case said Cecil was not specifically targeted, and the group didn't know until later that it had killed a well-known lion, according to the Safari Operators Association.

Cecil was being studied by an Oxford University research program, the conservation group said.

Information for this article was contributed by Amy Forliti, Brian Bakst and Hannah Cushman of The Associated Press.

A Section on 07/29/2015

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