Minnesota Dentist Who Killed Cecil The Lion Returns To Work Tomorrow

ABC News reports that Walter Palmer, the Minnesota dentist who killed treasured Zimbabwe lion, Cecil, will return to work tomorrow.

In an evening interview conducted jointly by The Associated Press and the Minneapolis Star Tribune that advisers said would be the only one granted, Palmer said again that he believes he acted legally and that he was stunned to find out his hunting party had killed one of Zimbabwe’s treasured animals. “If I had known this lion had a name and was important to the country or a study obviously I wouldn’t have taken it,” Palmer said. “Nobody in our hunting party knew before or after the name of this lion.”

Some high-level Zimbabwean officials have called for Palmer’s extradition, but no formal steps toward getting the dentist to return to Zimbabwe have been publicly disclosed. Friedberg, a Minneapolis attorney who said he is acting as an unpaid consultant to Palmer, said he has heard nothing from authorities about domestic or international investigations since early August.

Palmer says he feels safe enough to return to work — "My staff and my patients support me and they want me back."