US officials have launched an
investigation into the killing of a lion in Zimbabwe but say they have
been unable to reach the American involved.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) said it was "deeply concerned" about the "tragic" death of Cecil the lion.
Director Dan Ashe said they will "go where facts lead" but efforts to reach Walter Palmer have been unsuccessful.
Mr Palmer says he thought the hunt was legal but two Zimbabwean men have been arrested over the popular lion's death.
The
dental practice he runs in Minneapolis has been closed since he was
named as the tourist who shot Cecil, Zimbabwe's most famous lion.
Protesters
gathered outside the building on Wednesday, carrying placards saying
"Justice for Cecil", "Trophy hunters are cowards" and "Prosecute
poachers".
On Thursday, the White House said it would review a
public petition to extradite the American dentist after more than
100,000 signed it.
But spokesman Josh Earnest said it was up to the US justice department to respond to any extradition order. What Cecil the lion means to Zimbabwe When is hunting not poaching?
Earlier, the FWS said: "We are currently gathering facts about the
issue and will assist Zimbabwe officials in whatever manner requested."
"At
this point in time, however, multiple efforts to contact Dr Walter
Palmer have been unsuccessful," it said, saying Mr Palmer or his
representative should contact them immediately.
"It is up to all
of us - not just the people of Africa - to ensure that healthy, wild
populations of animals continue to roam the savannah for generations to
come," the statement said.
The whereabouts of Mr Palmer is
currently unknown, but he is thought to have returned to the US after
Cecil was killed on 1 July.
'Life-long hunter'
In
a letter to his patients, the dentist said he would assist authorities
in Zimbabwe or the US in their inquiries and apologised for the
disruption to the clinic.
The American tourist is believed to have paid about $50,000 (£32,000) to go on the hunt in Zimbabwe.
Prosecutors
in Zimbabwe have charged the hunter who supervised Mr Palmer's outing,
Theo Bronkhorst, for killing a lion not authorised to be hunted. If
convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison.
The country's safari
organisation also said the way in which Cecil was lured out of a
national park was unethical and possibly illegal.
A second suspect, farm owner Honest Ndlovu, was also arrested but is yet to be charged.
Lions in Africa
35,000
Max estimated lion population
12,000
Max lion population in southern Africa
665 Approx number of 'trophy' lions killed for export from Africa per year
49 Lion 'trophies' exported from Zimbabwe in 2013
0.29% Contribution to GDP of Zimbabwe from trophy hunting
17% Of Zimbabwe's land given to trophy hunting
AFP
An international hunting organisation suspended the memberships of
both Mr Palmer and Mr Bronkhorst on Thursday, saying it wanted a "full
and thorough investigation" into the lion's death.
Safari Club
International, which promotes big-game hunting worldwide, said "those
who intentionally take wildlife illegally should be prosecuted and
punished to the maximum extent allowed by law".
Cecil, who was a
major tourist attraction at Zimbabwe's largest game reserve in Hwange
National Park, was being monitored by UK-based Oxford University as part
of a conservation programme.
The animal is believed to have died
on 1 July, but the carcass was not discovered until a few days later.
It had been skinned and beheaded.
Analysis: The view from Africa - BBC Monitoring
Cecil's
killing has attracted little media attention inside Africa. What little
comment there was came in the form of derisive editorials in Zimbabwean
state media.
"Not since Simba, of The Lion King fame, has a lion
captured the world's imagination in this way," Alex Magaisa wrote in
the Zimbabwean Herald newspaper. While tragic, the lion's death has not
inflamed local passions because it is "far removed from the lived
realities of most of the local people," he added, saying that tourism
and hunting in Zimbabwe are "mired in elitism".
The writer said neither he nor his family had heard of Cecil the lion before it was killed.
Kennedy
Mavhumashava struck a similar note in the Zimbabwe Chronicle and
invoked the history of Western colonialism: "Many believe the lion was
named after Cecil John Rhodes, the celebrated forerunner of British
colonialism in Southern Africa, explaining the saturation coverage on
the demise of his namesake."
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