Lion hunter from ND sparks outrage

News | July 29th, 2015

Twin Cities animal rights group plans protest

After reports surfaced that Walter Palmer, a Twin Cities-based dentist who is a North Dakota native, shot and killed a lion during a big game hunt in Zimbabwe, outrage took place around the world.

A Twin Cities-based animal rights group planned to protest Palmer’s business in Bloomington on Wednesday. The Animal Rights Coalition was still organizing the protest at press time but is planning for a large turnout.

Chelsea Hassler, outreach director for the Animal Rights Coalition, like many others across the Midwest, was greatly affected by the news of the big game kill.

“I think similar to a lot of people, just kind of shock and it just kind of hits you in the gut,” she said. “Even if you are not an animal activist or you’re not a huge lover of animals, it’s just something about these quote unquote big game or majestic creatures being shot for sport that really gets people.”

Palmer issued a statement through a PR firm saying he regretting killing the lion but what he did was completely legal in Zimbabwe. The London Telegraph reported that the famed lion Cecil was lured outside of its home in a national park so it could be killed legally.

“To my knowledge, everything about this trip was legal and properly handled,” Palmer said in a statement.

Zimbabwe game officials also reportedly arrested two officials connected with the hunt and were looking for Palmer. Palmer previously pleaded guilty to a license violation for shooting a black bear in Wisconsin in 2008.

“I know that there’s some issues about whether it was legal or not ... But I know that bow hunting lions is legal in Zimbabwe so at least that much is true,” Hassler said. “It would be nice if we could put pressure on them to make that practice illegal.”

Palmer’s business website was the source of him being a North Dakota native but it wasn’t clear at press time what city he was born in nor how much time he spent in the state. Unconfirmed reports also surfaced that Palmer owned land for hunting in Clay and Otter Tail Counties.

Hassler’s group, which opposes hunting altogether, said applying pressure on Palmer’s business could effect some change.

“In this case, this dentist has a business [and] we can boycott using him for his services. We can publicly denounce this practice when people in our community are doing it,” she said.

Palmers’ dentistry office remained closed following the incident. This story went viral around the world. Some of the comments directed at Palmer on social media were very threatening. Hassler said her group does not advocate violence in retaliation for the hunt.

“Our organization values life of all animals including humans,” she said. “So even when someone does something like this that we very strongly disagree with, we would never advocate violence.”

As to why this story received much more attention than other tragedies that happen almost daily over in Africa, Hassler pointed to people’s affinity for animals and the fact that there just aren’t many lions in America.

“I think that is very unfortunate that a lot of the other issues don’t get the press that they probably should,” Hassler said. “Since we don’t have these animals here, we have this wonderment toward them and I think this just hits people in a certain spot. They’ve grown up feeling this kindred spirit to animals so that’s why it gets the press it does. It’s a practice that a lot of people are against.”

Twin Cities animal rights group plans protest

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