Zimbabwe will not charge U.S. dentist for killing Cecil the lion

Walter Palmer arrives at the River Bluff Dental clinic in Bloomington, Minnesota, September 8, 2015. REUTERS/Eric Miller

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe will not charge American dentist Walter Palmer for killing its most prized lion in July because he had obtained legal authority to conduct the hunt, a Cabinet minister said on Monday, angering conservationists.

Palmer, a lifelong big-game hunter from Minnesota, touched off a global controversy when he killed Cecil, a rare black-maned lion, with a bow and arrow outside Hwange National Park in Western Zimbabwe.