It should really come as no shock that the Zimbabwean government announced on Monday that they would no longer seek extradition of Walter J. Palmer for the illegal killing of Cecil the Lion on July 2nd; nor attempt prosecution of the alleged act of poaching. If anything, the biggest surprise is that it took this long for them to make this decision.

LionAid was quoted as saying…we are “disappointed but not at all surprised that Zimbabwe eventually decided to decline prosecution of Walter Palmer. After all, Walter Palmer was only one of many hundreds of trophy hunters before him who hunted at the thin edge of the law. If Zimbabwe had decided to prosecute Walter Palmer it would have established a procedure by which future Walter Palmers could be prosecuted. That would not benefit Zimbabwe’s hunting operator income streams.”

Of course, it is worth noting that had Zimbabwe not dropped…