HARARE, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwe is no longer pressing for the extradition of James Walter Palmer, an American dentist who killed a well-known lion called Cecil, a Cabinet minister said Monday.
Palmer can now safely return to Zimbab we as a “tourist” because he had not broken the southern African country’s hunting laws, said Environment, Water and Climate Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri on Monday. Zimbabwe’s police and the National Prosecuting Authority had cleared Palmer of wrongdoing, she said.
In July, Muchinguri-Kashiri had said Zimbabwean police and prosecutors would work to get Palmer returned to Zimbabwe to face poaching charges.
Through an adviser, Palmer declined to comment.
Palmer was identified as the man who killed Cecil in a bow hunt.
Cecil, a resident of Hwange National park in western Zimbabwe, was well-known to tourists and researchers.
