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ZIMBABWE HAS ABANDONED its bid to press charges against a US dentist who killed Cecil the lion, saying his papers “were in order” and that he did not know he was committing any offence.
The black-maned lion was shot dead with a powerful bow and arrow in July by US trophy hunter Walter Palmer in a hunt that provoked worldwide outrage.
Palmer paid €50,000 to shoot the lion on an expedition led by professional Zimbabwean hunter Theo Bronkhorst.
The hunt provoked a storm of criticism after it emerged that Cecil was a well-known attraction among visitors to the Hwange National Park and was wearing a tracking collar as part of an Oxford University research project.
But a Zimbabwean government minister on Monday said they would not pursue any legal proceedings against Palmer.
Environment Minister Oppah Muchinguri told reporters Palmer’s “papers were in order” when he came to Zimbabwe.
“We are now going to review how we issue hunting quotas,” Muchinguri said. ”The documents were there… The problem now remains internal.”
The dentist was welcome to return to Zimbabwe but “not for hunting”, she added.
Muchinguri had previously called for Palmer to be extradited from the US.
Palmer was hounded on social media over the killing and, after demonstrations outside his dental practice in Minnesota, went into hiding for weeks.
A legal hunt?
He later apologised for killing Cecil, a 13-year-old male renowned for his distinctive black mane.
Palmer said he believed it was a legal hunt and appeared to blame Bronkhorst for misleading him.
Muchinguri said Honest Ndlovu, the local landowner, did not have a hunting quota for a lion but that the rural district council covering the land did have one.
Bronkhorst has been charged with “failing to prevent an illegal hunt” and is due back in court on Thursday when the judge is due to decide on his application to have the case against him thrown out.
Bronkhorst has always denied any wrongdoing, saying he had obtained all the permits required to kill an elderly lion that was outside the national park boundaries.
When Palmer returned to work in September, a handful of protesters stood outside his dentist practice holding signs declaring “Stop Trophy Hunting” and “Animals Not Trophies.”
Palmer, 55, said the ordeal had affected his wife and daughter, who had been threatened on social media.
“I don’t understand that level of humanity to come after people not involved at all,” he said in an interview.
Images of the dentist grinning over dead prey from previous hunts — a limp leopard, a rhino, an elk, a big horned sheep, a cape buffalo — circulated widely on the Internet, feeding the firestorm of anger.
Radical US animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) even called for Palmer to be hanged, and animal activist Brigitte Bardot described him as a “serial killer”.
Bronkhorst, who was granted $1,000 bail in the Cecil case, was also arrested in September on separate charges of planning to smuggle 29 sable antelopes — a rare and expensive breed — into South Africa.
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So what was the actual problem?!
None, just lazy journalists creating stories.
Scribbled on a 9 to make it look like an 8, the Donegal b@$tards!!!
With the addition of the extra two numbers the odds of winning are eleven million to two so the lotto is only won a maximum of eight times per year, lotto one & two maybe three times per year. So lotto definitely is a tax on people who are poor at maths.
Free publicity for the ailing lottery?
More & more people are doing their numbers in the bookies these days since ownership of OUR national lottery changed hands and they made it even more difficult to win a substantive prize.
Any stats to back that up.
Too true Frank much better payout for 2, 3 and 4 numbers in Ladbrooks i.e. €100 payout for a euro bet for 2 numbers on the Euromillions.
New operator tried to get out of paying. Plain and simple. Hope the winner enjoys it fair play.
On what basis ?
‘issues has arisen surrounding the payment.’
Glad everything has been sorted out. Puts the incessant grammatical mistakes here into perspective is suppose.
Lifes to shrt too bee corecting misteaks one da jurnal.
None of us are immune to grammatical errors, or indeed, typos, as “Puts the incessant grammatical mistakes here into perspective is suppose” would attest to. I assume that you meant “…. into perspective, I suppose?”
Lol. Yip!
Curse of the too-smart everywhere. BUT the mistake has been corrected.
All the same, the standard of writing on The Journal is pretty low all round. The ‘Opinion Pieces’ rarely rise above Junior Cert essay level. The incessant typos and grammatical mistakes compound the impression that the site is not as well organised as it might be and that the quality of the writing isn’t really an issue for whoever runs it.
That aside, the Polls are particularly poor (as is frequently pointed out). Whoever compiles them should take a course in how to put a basic poll together.
To be fair though, these “journalists” earn a crust from writing. I think the expectation that even the headlines of the articles are grammatically correct is not unreasonable. The whole effort seems amateurish..
I agree with everything you type, but at the end of the day I see the journal.ie as a source of comedy ( with an agenda), and that’s ok. Just don’t take everything at face value. Except Mark Zuckerberg – he’s legit.
@ Andrew. Wasn’t expecting a bear to jump in there.
The lotto is a tax on fools.
Yeah, everyone in the know knows that blackjack is where the big money is made.
I’d have to agree. The standard of English is poor. The “journalists” and most of the followers seem to have failed primary level English and confined their post-primary reading to page 3 in the Sun, “mate”. It’s progress of a kind though. 100 years after the 1916 Rising we’re now just illiterate in one language rather than two.
Hope they dont hold out on my € 15 million after tonights draw.
Play the lotto and support Canadian pensioners…
Solicitors = opportunistic parasites
Good luck with making a will or buying a house so
Do it myself mate. ..hate those filth bags
I’m sure solicitor is pleased..maybe “Argues and Fibs” company no pun intended
If there’s anymore problems with paying the money, I’ll gladly accept it.
“Issues” normally equals “crooks”.
There are issues with your tax returns Mister Trump.
This is a private does to the charity. Trying to cut corners and sneeky tactic to not pay the winner. Along with the thousands that have lost out in funding. i.e. social and sports clubs.
have your say