Official: US dentist not wanted for killing lion

Palmer can now safely return to the southern African country as 'tourist', Cabinet minister says

Zimbabwe is no longer pressing for the extradition of James Walter Palmer, the US dentist who killed a well-known lion called Cecil, a Cabinet minister said on Monday.

Palmer can now safely return to Zimbabwe as a "tourist" because he had not broken the southern African country's hunting laws, Environment, Water and Climate Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri told reporters in Harare on Monday. Zimbabwe's police and the National Prosecuting Authority had cleared Palmer of wrongdoing, she said.