2015: Cecil the lion’s final photograph, thanks to “Walter J. Palmer, an Eden Prairie man with a Bloomington dental practice” & Theo Bronkhorst.

2020 update: “Cecil the lion’s killer is back — slaughtering endangered rams in Mongolia.”

“The “driller killer” from Minnesota who killed the beloved Cecil the lion bagged an endangered ram in Mongolia last year.

Dentist Walter Palmer, 60, forked over almost $100,000 for the pleasure of killing an endangered Altai argali — the world’s biggest ram — in Mongolia last August. The enormous sheep are considered a national treasure and, with only 19,000 left in the world, are on the endangered species list.

Coincidentally, Donald Trump Jr. caused international outrage last year for bagging a similar ram on a hunt during the same month. It is not known if the hunting parties knew each other or were hunting together in the remote region of Western Mongolia.

Fellow hunters posted photos of the dead ram — but were careful to crop out Palmer’s face in an attempt to protect the dentist who had killed the ram with a crossbow — the same method he killed Cecil the Lion with during a hunt in Zimbabwe.

“For trophy hunters to travel to Mongolia to kill a beautiful and ­endangered ram is an absolute outrage,” Dr Teresa Telecky, wildlife vice-president at Humane Society International, told the Daily Mirror.” Read the rest here.

Original coverage follows:

For the full photo, click here.

Let some good come out of this: here.

Here’s the last photo of another lion, also thanks to Walter J. Palmer:

This gentleman defines selfishness.

“Cecil was a famous 13 year old lion, being tracked via GPS collar and was involved in a wildlife study out of Oxford University. It is, I believe, illegal to kill a GPS collared lion. The lion was lured out of the national wildlife park via scenting and strapping a dead animal to the safari jeep. At this point, barely outside of the parks boundaries, Cecil was shot with an arrow. The arrow did not kill the lion and he was suffering for 40 hours while being tracked and was eventually killed with a gunshot. The Hunters then attempted to destroy the GPS collar before skinning and beheading the animal. The dentist in question has been in previous trouble for lying to wildlife officials regarding the specifics of a bear killed in ’08. While unrelated but speaking to his moral character, he also previously settled a lawsuit (100K+) for the repeated sexual harassment of one of his dental aides.

E: Furthering this tragedy, the 23 or 24 cubs fathered by Cecil, will most likely be killed by the next male in the hierarchy, to further his individual blood line, as is common in lion society.” <> For more on this and several other quotes.

Hunt responsibly, if at all. There’s nothing brave about luring an endangered species out of a park with a dead carcass on top of your car, then shooting a collared legend from the safety of the car. You’re literally just moving your finger. You’re not even eating the kill. It’s just ego, it’s just the thrill of causing death.

This same “hunter”…more like “poacher”…”once killed a black bear illegally & dragged its body 40 miles to a legal hunting area – to try & cover the illegal kill up.”

Source: According to U.S. court records, Palmer pleaded guilty in 2008 to making false statements to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service about a black bear he fatally shot in western Wisconsin. Palmer had a permit to hunt but shot the animal outside the authorized zone in 2006, then tried to pass it off as being killed elsewhere, according to court documents. He was given one year probation and fined nearly $3,000.

So: he’s done the same thing before, but with a bear. He also plead guilty.

In 2008, Palmer pleaded guilty in federal court in Wisconsin to misleading a federal agent in connection with the hunting of a black bear. Two years earlier, Palmer killed a bear near Phillips, in Price County. That location was 40 miles outside where bear hunting was allowed at the time.

Palmer and others transported the bear carcass to a registration station inside the allowed hunting zone. At the station, he falsely certified that the bear had been killed in the legal zone. He then brought the bear to Minnesota.

Twice, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agent interviewed Palmer, who said he believed he killed the bear legally.

Palmer, who faced a maximum penalty of five years in prison, was sentenced to one year’s probation and fined nearly $3,000.

But that’s not all! He did the same thing, with an elk in a refuge with no way out: really just a canned hunt with no predators so the elk is comfortable around humans. There is a 100% success rate. That he would have no qualms about trying to enter it into the record books speaks volumes about his lack of personal ethics.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/sports/13elk.html?_r=1&

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But that’s not all! He shot the lion with a bow, and mostly missed. The poor beast had to suffer for at least another 40 hours before he finally bled out. If you’re gonna do something such as this, you could at least do the proper thing and not allow him to suffer.

But that’s not all! He’s previously settled for over $100k for sexual harassment.

“The Minnesota Board of Dentistry referenced his conviction for the Wisconsin bear hunt, as well as sexual harassment claims, in 2009 while punishing him for unprofessional conduct.

According to a corrective action agreement he reached with the board, Palmer’s insurer paid $127,500 to a former employee and patient who accused him of ongoing sexual harassment. The woman claimed he made unwelcome comments about and physical contact with her breasts, buttocks and genitals.

Palmer denied the harassment allegations and said he agreed to the settlement to “conclude the matter quickly and efficiently,” according to the agreement. He was required to pass a jurisprudence exam and complete an ethics course. “

“The saddest part of all is that, now that Cecil is dead, the next lion in the hierarchy, Jericho will most likely kill all Cecil’s cubs so that he can insert his own bloodline into the females,” Rodrigues said. “This is standard procedure for lions.” ~ CNN

Quote from a hunter: “I am a hunter. I spend freezing days in deer stands and quietly stalk through woods to secure a buck or a doe which I dress out and quarter and eat the meat.

This so called “hunter” basically paid poachers to lure a rado collared lion out of a protected preserve with carrion tied to the front of a jeep in the middle of the night, shot the illegally lured lion with a compound bow from the jeep and then chased it in the jeep for 40 miles as it ran away, finally allowing the poachers to kill it with a rifle. He then had the head sawn off and the lion skinned, leaving the carrion for scavengers.

He is not a hunter. He is a complete asshole. He should be held accountable for poaching. He has apparently done it before and didn’t learn his lesson.

He needs to have a lesson taught to him that he remembers.”

View post on imgur.com

New: “Jimmy Kimmel had a perfect and touching response to the killing of Cecil the lion.”

Great comment via Reddit: [–]Andromeda321 393 points 2 hours ago

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How Walter and others can actually, truly enjoy happiness: (hint: poaching not involved)