Zimbabwe Won’t Charge Dentist Who Killed Cecil the Lion

JOHANNESBURG — The government of Zimbabwe said Monday that it would not call for the extradition of an American dentist involved in the hunt that killed a lion known as Cecil because he had all the proper documentation for the hunt.

Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, Zimbabwe’s environment minister, told reporters that the American hunter, Dr. Walter J. Palmer of Minnesota, would not be charged in the killing of the 13-year-old lion in July outside Hwange National Park in northwestern Zimbabwe.

“He is free to come, not for hunting, but as a tourist,” Ms. Muchinguri-Kashiri said, according to Reuters.