Walter Palmer, the Minnesota dentist who allegedly shot and killed Cecil the Lion while hunting in Zimbabwe in July, has returned to work as of Sept. 8, and a group of protesters were right there with him.
Palmer is accused of hunting the protected and beloved animal illegally despite claims he was unaware of Cecil’s fame and protected status. The Zimbabwean guides who were with Palmer on the trip are facing charges. The government of Zimbabwe demanded the U.S. government to have Palmer extradited back to their country to face charges as well, reported CNN on July 31.
After lying low for several weeks, Palmer returned to his dental practice on Tuesday, and some believe that he should not be allowed to do such due to his crime.
Kili Ling, a sophomore studying international cultural studies from Washington, agrees Palmer should not be allowed to continue his dental practice and should be extradited back to Zimbabwe to face charges. Ling said, “He did something wrong and should have to face the repercussions of what he did. Here, it’s in the form of not continuing his practice and being punished for what he did.”
Ling was glad attention was brought to the matter. “It’s sad and something where a lot of light should be shown,” said Ling. The government of Zimbabwe is no longer seeking to extradite Palmer out of concern for keeping their hunting industry alive and well, reported CBS on Sept. 7.
Ling said, “That’s terrible that the hunting industry [is being taken care of] instead of the wellbeing of the animals.”
Meanwhile, Maria TeNgai, an undecided freshmen from Utah, said the situation is mostly dependent on facts. “If someone says something, people will just start agreeing with it. If you don’t know the facts you might think since a certain person agrees you’ll agree too, and it just goes on from there.”
On the notion of Palmer being extradited, TeNgai said, “No, if he really didn’t know, then that’s too much. But if he did, then there are punishments other than that.” However, according to TeNgai, the government of Zimbabwe should, “Follow the rules you set, even if they’re going to hurt you.”
Rachel Neeland, a freshman elementary education major from Arizona, had a mixture of opinions on the topic. Neeland said, “I think it’s good there’s attention on it, but there are tons of other more serious things people should be spending their emotions on. There are way more important things dealing with our country in the news that people don’t even look at.”
Neeland disagreed with protesters and felt Palmer should be allowed to continue his practice. She said, “He might have committed a crime, but it has nothing to do with his practice. Maybe if it was something dealing with money or people or scamming, then yeah. But he illegally killed an animal in another country and he’s a dentist.”
However, Neeland felt Palmer probably knew because, “He had guides who knew if it’s a commonly known thing. Unless they didn’t tell him to get money off of the hunt.” She felt though the government of Zimbabwe’s calming down on getting Palmer extradited is “good because they’re thinking about their country.”
While opinions on the situation were across the board, Palmer still worked throughout the week.