Cecil the lion

HARARE, Zimbabwe—This African nation’s government said it would ask U.S. authorities to extradite the American dentist who killed Zimbabwe’s most famous lion, saying Walter Palmer needs to stand trial for violating national hunting laws.

The death of Cecil the lion—famous with tourists for his black mane—has sparked world-wide outrage. Hundreds of protesters have demonstrated outside Dr. Palmer’s Minnesota dental office in recent days and a broad group that includes animal-rights groups and celebrities have condemned the hunt.

Cecil, an African lion in the Hwange National Park, was shot and killed by a big-game hunter on 1 July 2015.

Big-game hunting is the hunting of large game for sport. The term is historically associated with the hunting of Africa's Big Five game (lion, the African elephant, the Cape Buffalo, the leopard and the white rhinoceros), and with tigers and rhinos on the Indian subcontinent. 

Protesters gathered outside the office of Walter Palmer, the American dentist accused of illegally killing a protected lion in Zimbabwe.