A rich (or well-off enough to blow thousands on nonsense) American dentist allegedly paid $50,000 to slay Cecil the lion, and it’s backfiring big time. People want him dead.Â
Walter Palmer, from Minnesota is in trouble with the world, for taking the 13-year-old black mane lion’s life.  Cecil was a big deal, as he was a popular tourist attraction in Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park. When he was killed, he was wearing a GPS tracking device to study, as Deadspin notes, “the impact of sports hunting on lions living in the safari area surrounding the national park.” The sad irony of it all.
Now Cecil’s gone, and the people are rightfully outraged. It takes a strange individual to actually pay money to kill a living animal, especially one of the “big five” (look it up). Also, Cecil was a celebrity of sorts, and maybe too trusting of humans. More sad irony.
Perhaps it was Cecil’s familiarity with the human race, that allowed Palmer and his partner in crime, to lure him out of the park to his death. After they shot him with a bow and arrow, they watched him slowly suffer for 40 hours before taking him out with a gun. He was also skinned and beheaded. (Um, what the f*ck?)
Palmer said in a statement that he had “no idea” that the lion was a “local favorite, was collared and part of a study until the end of the hunt.”
Ultimately, Palmer says he has nothing to do with the drama everybody keeps throwing his way. “I relied on the expertise of my local professional guides to ensure a legal hunt.”
The Bushman Safari employee, as well as the owner of the land on which Cecil died, head to court today over his senseless murder. There’s even a petition demanding justice for Cecil, it has more than 400, 000 signatures.
Cecil is touching hearts the world over. Jimmy Kimmel even cried.
Palmer isn’t facing any charges. He’s kicking back in Minnesota, but now the hunter has become the hunted. Funny how the tables turn.
Read some of the twitter reactions below.
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Photo: AP
