Cecil the lion killer Walter Palmer hires armed guards after death threats

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EXCLUSIVE: Dentist who killed Cecil the lion hires armed security and installs covert cameras after death threats and vandalism at his homes crammed with evidence of his hunting obsession
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Walter Palmer has now been in hiding for a week after he was revealed to be the American who killed Cecil, the treasured Zimbabwean lion
The dentist's main home is in Minnesota but he is now paying for armed protection and CCTV after vandalism at $1.1m Florida waterfront house
Fanatical bow hunter has animal mementos everywhere - including a boat lift painted to resemble a giraffe at Marco Island getaway
His garden chairs are casts of elephants and he has an antelope statue in his window
Security expert hired by Palmer tells Daily Mail Online armed guards are now stationed on property while police are watching Minnesota home

By Ben Ashford In Minneapolis For Dailymail.com

Published: 10:24 EST, 5 August 2015 | Updated: 14:50 EST, 5 August 2015

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Lion killing-pariah Walter Palmer has hired a phalanx of private investigators to protect his safari-themed homes from animal rights activists, Daily Mail Online can reveal.

The globally-despised dentist, 55, is spending thousands of dollars a day on armed security and covert CCTV cameras after being deluged with death threats and abuse.

Palmer and his blonde wife Tonette, 56, went into hiding last week after he was unmasked as the fanatical American bow hunter who slaughtered famed big cat, Cecil.

While the wealthy couple remain out of sight, private detective agencies have been tasked with guarding their three lavish properties, which are all crammed with exotic animal heads and mementos from Palmer's numerous kills.

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Alert: Walter Zalisko, of Global Investigative Group, leaves the dentist's Florida home after graffiti was scrawled on the garage. He tells Daily Mail Online that armed guards are now constantly present

Hunting obsession: Walter Palmer's Florida home is covered in evidence of his passion, including a jet ski lift painted to look like a giraffe

Fanatical interest: His Florida pool has elephant statues on the deck.

Animal decor: Walter Palmer's Marco Island, Florida, home has a lamp which is apparently also a statue of an antelope or similar creature, while the curtains appear to be animal print

Closed: Palmer, left, was also forced to close his Minneapolis dental practice after receiving several death threats over the killing of Cecil, right

The main Palmer residence in Eden Prairie, Minnesota has been closely monitored by police and has so far escaped any damage.

But their vacation home in upscale Marco Island, Florida was targeted overnight Monday when vandals sprayed the words 'lion killer' on his garage door and dumped pigs' feet on his driveway.

Daily Mail Online can reveal the $1.1 million waterfront property has a hunting-themed decor, with exotic animals and safari motifs on the wallpaper, drapes and upholstery.

The yard features stone plant pots shaped like Easter Island heads, statues of elephants and a jet ski hoist painted and customized to resemble a giraffe.

Global Investigative Group, a Florida detective agency headed by a former chief of police and US State Department adviser, Walter Zalisko, has been hired to provide round the clock surveillance and armed guards.

'I certainly hope we don't see any repeat of what happened,' Mr Zalisko told Daily Mail Online. 'But if we do, the people will be caught on camera because we've installed closed circuit TV on the property.

'A lot of those cameras are hidden. We're able to document all the license plates coming on this street.

Cecil the lion killer's $1m Florida vacation home vandalized

Provocative: Walter Palmer poses with the corpse of Cecil the lion after hunting him with his bow, wounding the leader of the pride, and shooting him 40 hours later.

Main home: The hunting dentist's house in the Minneapolis suburb of Eden Prairie. He has not been seen there since he was identified as the killer of Cecil, and it has been protected by local police

Target: The Marco Island, Florida, home which was the subject of vandalism this week and where the dentist was a regular visitor until he became an international pariah

Access: The Florida property has direct access to the water and the dentist has a boat. He and his wife have both fishing and hunting permits for Florida

Trophy house: The dentist also has a home in Pelican Rapids in the north of Minnesota (right) and owns the former school beside it which is said to be stuffed with animal heads from his hunting

Guarded: Security notices at the north Minnesota property

Targeted: Animal rights activists have held protests outside his dental practice in the Minnesota suburbs. It remains closed and patients are being directed to other surgeries

Guard: Walter Zalisko, in charge of Palmer's security. He tells Daily Mail Online: 'It could be a mixture of kids and then some wacky animal rights activists. Personally, I can't really understand why they are doing this.'

'We're going to have armed private investigators on the premises and these people risk being arrested and locked up for trespassing.

'It could be a mixture of kids and then some wacky animal rights activists. Personally, I can't really understand why they are doing this.

'There are millions of abortions round the world. Nobody is doing this for the abortions yet they will for an animal.

'People hunt every day in Africa. It's nuts. It's just unfortunate this was a popular lion.'

Mr Zalisko insisted he had not had any personal contact with Palmer, who has not spoken publicly about Cecil's killing aside from a brief statement issued last week through a PR agent.

The 35-year police veteran said he was hired by another private investigator who was carrying out similar work in Minnesota for the reviled dentist.

'I wasn't hired directly by the family, I've never spoken to Dr Palmer,' added Mr Zalisko. 'I was hired by another PI who was hired by Dr Palmer.'

Palmer's practice in the leafy Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington has remained closed throughout his disappearing act.

Daily Mail Online previously revealed that the father-of-two has a private office there decorated with stuffed animal heads and novelty paw-print flooring.

More of his kill trophies are mounted in the basement of his $1 million family home in nearby Eden Prairie, where plain-clothed security are warning away journalists and keeping guard night and day.

Security is similarly tight at Palmer's hunting lodge a three-hour drive north in Barnesville, northern Minnesota, where neighbors say he has a barn stocked with a menagerie of exotic animal heads, including a moose, bear, walrus and a lion.

Journalists driving onto the surrounding 650-acre plot have been met by men in blacked-out SUVs and told to get off private property immediately.

Walter Palmer went from hunter to hunted when he was implicated in the slaughter of 13-year-old Cecil, a prized research animal and majestic symbol of Zimbabwe's wildlife.

Zimbabwe calls for lion killer Walter Palmer to face charges

Also in hiding: Walter Palmer's wife Tonette has not been seen since her husband was identified as Cecil's killer. She is also a keen hunter and fisherwoman

Anger: A member of staff at the lion killer's home in Florida's reaction to the animal rights activists' vandalism at the property

Targeted: Pigs' feet which were left on the driveway of the Florida home in an apparent protest at Cecil's death

Safe for now: Deer were seen across the road from Walter Palmer's home in Minnesota. He has a permit to hunt them but is in hiding

Tribal symbol: A plant pot apparently based on the giant statues of Easter Island in Walter Palmer's Florida home's grounds

He claims he trusted that his local contacts guides had the required permits when they shot, skinned and hacked off the regal animal's head on July 1.

Zimbabwean authorities believe Cecil was illegally baited out of a protected wildlife reserve and left to suffer an arrow wound for 40 hours before he was finally killed.

Two Zimbabweans - a professional hunter and a farm owner - have been arrested over the slaying and authorities there want Palmer extradited to face charges.

However he has not been seen since Cecil’s death became global news and numerous relatives and neighbors contacted by Daily Mail Online insist they do not know his whereabouts.

In a letter sent to his patients last week Palmer refuted any suggestion of wrongdoing.

'To my knowledge, everything about this trip was legal and properly handled and conducted,' he wrote.

'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 relied on the expertise of my local professional guides to ensure a legal hunt.