♪ (punk rock music) ♪
- (reporter) He's traveled the world to bag a zoo's worth of animals,
from leopards to rhinos-- - That's so messed up
because they just kill them for fun.
- (reporter) In 2008, he was sentenced to a year of probation
for making a false statement to wildlife officials
after killing a black bear.
In a statement today, Palmer said--
- If you get arrested for killing an animal,
I'm not sure why you'd do it illegally again.
- (reporter) "I had no idea that the lion I took
was a known, local favorite, was collared and part of a study
until the end of the hunt."
- I mean, what do you expect him to say?
"Yeah, no, I knew what I was doing."
- You're a dentist.
People already don't like you because no one likes to go
to the dentist because you're either pulling teeth,
cleaning it and just picking someone's gums,
or putting on braces that no one wants.
So why would you kill a lion and make everyone hate you more
when they already hate you enough 'cause you're a dentist?
♪ (drum solo) ♪
- (Finebros) Had you heard about this before today?
- No, I have not heard about this.
- It's all over the internet.
- Yes, I did.
I was disappointed.
- People are making America look worse day-by-day.
It's upsetting.
- (Finebros) What do you think should happen to this guy,
Walter James Palmer, for illegally killing this lion?
- Um, jail at the very least?
- I don't know if jail would be right,
but there should still be some kind of punishment.
- Like he said, it's not his fault, necessarily, that he killed
a famous lion, but he shouldn't be killing
big game animals in the first place.
So I think the appropriate legal action should be taken.
- (Finebros) Which what do you think that even is?
- Probably not much.
He'll probably pay a fee and it'll get forgotten about.
- (Finebros) Does his apology saying he was unaware
that this was a tracked animal make a difference
to how you feel about this?
- No, I guess it was his fault. He should've done his research more.
He would've found out, or he should've been more careful.
- I do think it's possible that that's true,
but I still don't forgive him personally
because he shouldn't be killing lions in the first place.
- I don't know.
Just because, like-- I feel like he's totally responsible
because he lured it and there was a lot of thought process behind it.
This wasn't just an accident.
- It seemed very scripted, as in it was like,
"Okay, I have to make an apology
so that I don't get more in trouble for what I did.
Blah, blah, blah."
But I don't think he's upset that he killed a lion at all.
That's what his intentions were in the first place.
- (Finebros) In Zimbabwe, it is legal to kill animals like lions
if you have certain permits and you're in the right locations.
They claim that they get money for sport hunting
that helps support things like conservation efforts
for the same animals that are being killed.
- Eh, that's just kinda-- I don't really buy that though.
- That doesn't make any sense.
You're taking away from what you're putting in.
It's so dumb.
- I feel like that's how that country gets money,
and it is their animals, so I feel like they have
the final say in what goes.
- How are you able to help the conservation of them
while giving out permits to kill them?
Just find a different way to find funding.
You don't have to give out permits.
- (Finebros) Have you ever been hunting before?
- Yes, I have.
I used to live on a farm in rural Montana
and my family, we hunted for food.
So we'd go hunting for elk, deer.
- No.
- Never. Probably never will either.
- No, actually, because I'm not a big fan of hunting things.
- I haven't been hunting.
I've been to Missouri with some of my relatives who hunt,
but they do it for food and they do game hunting,
but during the season.
- I have a friend who does go hunting, but they hunt birds.
He stuffed one. It's so weird.
It hangs in their living room.
- (Finebros) Are you a vegetarian?
- I am not a vegetarian.
That's not an option for a lot of families who are poorer.
They can't afford to eat right and get a balanced diet
without eating protein from meat.
- (Finebros) So there are many that will still hunt for food,
or they'll say it's to help with population levels
to sustain the environment.
Do you think, in those cases, it's okay to kill animals?
- I can understand food and I can understand population.
- Population control and food, to me, are the only two valid reasons to hunt.
- We're not in a society to this day where you need to hunt for food anymore.
That is people's job and they grow it,
they have farms, they have animals, and they kill them for food.
- I'm okay with hunting if you're gonna eat it,
like you hunt a deer and then you take it home
to your family the old-fashioned way.
You just eat it instead of going to Stater Bros. or something.
If you're just going for sport, eh... I wouldn't.
Just buy a video game or something. I don't know. (laughs)
- (Finebros) And finally, we just want to show you a picture of Cecil.
- It's a beautiful animal.
- King. (laughs)
- And he was the leader of his pack,
so now what is his pack gonna do?
- It probably was a famous or a special lion to someone
and he just took a life.
- If I ever see something-- unless I know it's fake,
I don't wanna see anything like that or a rhino or an elephant
or any big game heads on anyone's wall,
'cause that would just piss me off.
You have no right to kill them.
(silence)