The Minnesota dentist who killed Zimbabwean lion Cecil, sparking a global outcry from animal lovers, returned to work on Tuesday at his suburban Minneapolis office to shouts of "murderer" and "leave town" from a half dozen protesters.
Walter Palmer, 55, arrived at about 7am CDT to the Bloomington, Minnesota, dental practise that he shut down in late July amid a firestorm of protests after he was publicly identified as the hunter who killed the rare black-maned lion. It had reopened in the middle of August without him.
Speaking publicly for the first time about the incident, he told the Associated Press and Minneapolis Star Tribune that he had acted legally, but said that if he had known who the animal was he would not have killed it.
"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," Mr Palmer said. "Nobody in our hunting party knew before or after the name of this lion."
The Minnesota dentist admitted that he wounded the lion with an arrow but denied that it had subsequently taken 40 hours to track down and kill it. He also denied claims by the
Zimbabwean authorities that it had been killed by a gun, saying that an arrow had been used.
The 55-year-old is believed to have paid $50,000 (£32,000) to hunt a lion in Zimbabwe's largest game reserve.
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