Dentist who killed Cecil the lion returns to practice, protesters shout ‘murderer’ and ‘leave town’

The dentist who killed Cecil, the lion, has returned back to his clinical practice. On Sept. 8, police blocked off the area around Walter Palmer's dental clinic in Minnesota to protect him from the wrath of the protesters who shouted “murderer” and “leave town” as the dentist moved to his clinic.

Palmer became the centre of attraction and received huge criticism once he was identified as the man who killed the famous Zimbabwean lion. The incident sparked a global outcry from animal lovers around the world.

As Palmer entered his clinic, nearly half a dozen protesters shouted against him. At the same time, he was supported by a few of his patients at his clinic. The 55-year-old dentist did not respond to the reporters throwing questions at him. Palmer stopped his clinical practice in late July after he killed the rare black-maned lion at Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park.

Veronique Lamb, a tourist from Brussels, was one of the protesters waiting for Palmer to return to his office. In an interview with Reuters, Lamb said that she was there to protest the dentist returning to work like nothing ever happened.

"He did something really bad and he really knows it," said Lamb. "Hopefully this has opened the eyes of people to this horrible business. It's very sad."

At the same time, Palmer was greeted by a few of his patients. The 30-year-old St. Paul resident and hunter, Ryan Rice, was one of them.

"I have no problem with him taking a lion or giraffe, that's his own business," said Rice. "I do have a problem with social media and how people have tried to slander this individual."

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