Walter Palmer, Cecil's killer, resumes work at his practice
American dentist Walter Palmer has finally spoken up and will get back to work, following weeks of keeping away from the public eye after he was slammed worldwide for killing a prized African lion named Cecil.
In an interview with The Associated Press and the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Palmer said he will be back to work at his office on Tuesday to join his staff who resumed working several weeks ago without their boss.
"I have a lot of staff members, and I'm a little heartbroken at the disruption in their lives," the 55-year-old dentist said. "And I'm a health professional. I need to get back to my staff and my patients, and they want me back. That's why I'm back."
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For the past six weeks, Palmer has kept away from media and the public ever since he was reported to have been the hunter who led his men into an illegal hunt that took the life of Cecil the lion.
Cecil was killed earlier in July at Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park. Multiple reports stated that the widely favored lion was shot first with a compound bow near the park, then tracked for 40 hours. He was then shot with a gun, skinned, and finally beheaded.
Palmer has denied that he knew of Cecil's favor with people, plus the fact that Cecil was part of a study backed by Oxford University, reiterating that it was hard to see Cecil's tracking collar in the dark as it was buried in his mane. What particularly took the Internet by fire was when the dentist, known for his love for hunting, said "it's not illegal" to take down a collared lion.
Referring to the rage he received from people across the globe, Palmer said, "This has been especially hard on my wife and daughter," adding that they were threatened in social media platforms.
According to CNN, Cecil's death has paved the way for conservation efforts to keep pushing through. The studies, spearheaded by talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, have gained a whopping $977,000, an amount enough to fund further research of the lion conservation in the park.
