Emerging from hiding: Dentist who killed Cecil the Lion finally returns to work after six weeks of protests and death threats

• Walter Palmer returned to his River Bluff Dental practice in Bloomington, Minnesota, Tuesday morning
• The suburban dental practice reopened in mid-August without him 
• Palmer, 55, gave his first an interview over the weekend saying he was heartbroken by the way his staff have been treated by protesters 
• The dentist claimed that had he known Cecil's importance, he would not have 'taken' it
• Also disputed accounts that the mortally wounded animal spent 40 hours wandering around before being finished off with a bullet  

By Ben Ashford In Minneapolis For Dailymail.com

Published: 06:59 EST, 8 September 2015 | Updated: 10:50 EST, 8 September 2015

Lion-killing dentist Walter Palmer finally broke cover today to return to work - and his first patient was a fellow hunting enthusiast.

A handful of animal rights protesters welcomed the reviled big game hunter with jeers and cries of 'Extradite Palmer' as he dashed inside his River Bluffs Dental surgery just after 7am local time.

His first patient had arrived minutes earlier and was sat in the waiting room when Palmer, 55, slipped silently inside the front door clutching a bag and wearing a dark polo shirt and grey slacks.

Scroll down for video 

First glimpse: A stern-looking Dr Walter Palmer is pictured walking towards the front door of his practice in Bloomington, Minnesota, Tuesday for the first time since being identifed as the hunter who killed Cecil the Lion 

Media circus: Palmer is seen here surrounded by reporters and cameramen who converged on his office in anticipation of his return to work 

A handful of animal rights protesters greeted the dentist with cries of 'extradite Palmer' he entered his River Bluffs Dental surgery just after 7am local time

Palmer went right past the reporters and slipped silently through the front door of his practice 

Chilly welcome: Palmer was greeted by a series of typed-up notes stuck to his office door (seen left)

Pointed messages: A series of written protests were left on the door of the practice for the notorious dentist's arrival

Among the messages were: 'So you think having dead animals in your house makes you cool? #gross' and 'That lion had children. Now they don't have a dad'

Greeted with a smile: Dr Palmer's receptionist was clearly overjoyed to see her boss walk through the front door after a long absence 

The white male, in his 40s, also refused to speak with the media other than to confirm he was a patient - but his love of hunting was evident from the customized camouflage upholstery on his black Ford F-150 pickup truck.

He also had two caps on the dash - one in similar camouflage material and the others bearing the slogan 'Antler Kings'.

Upon his arrival, a stone-faced Palmer was greeted by a series of typed-up notes stuck to his office door.

Palmer and his blonde wife Tonette, 56, went into hiding and spent thousands on private security after he was unmasked as Cecil the lion's killer in July.

Today’s first appearance comes after he finally agreed to an interview Sunday in an attempt to draw a line under the famed animal's slaughter.

Stalking their prey: Reporters await Palmer's arrival at his dental office in the pre-dawn hours Tuesday 

First patient: Palmer's first patient, seen here in denim shorts and work boots, arrived in a Ford F-150 pickup truck with camouflage upholstery

Hunting enthusiast: Camouflage upholstery is seen inside the truck belonging to Dr Palmer's first patient of the day  

The patient also had two baseball caps (pictured) on the dash - one in similar camouflage material and the others bearing the slogan 'Antler Kings'

But his critics were in no mood to forgive as they caught their first ever sighting of the hated dad-of-two.

Protester Cathy Pierce drove for more than an hour to jeer the pariah as he arrived for work for the first time since shuttering his business in the wake of the global uproar.

'I'm here to stick up for the animals who can't stick up for themselves,' she told Daily Mail Online. 'Cecil was killed for nothing more than his skin and his head.

'His carcass was just left there to rot. It's disgusting. We are not here to pick on his patients or his staff - we're here to pick on him.'

Several more activists waiting outside the surgery in suburban Minneapolis - where Palmer's private office is decorated with stuffed animal heads and novelty paw-print flooring - chanted 'Walter we will never forget' and 'Extradite Palmer'.

His staff and private security refused to comment. A security guard warned journalists to get off the dentist’s property as he remained inside refusing to face the media.

Police in Bloomington insisted they are not providing protection for Palmer despite closing off the street and ordering reporters to keep their distance.

At least five officers and several squad cars were stationed nearby and a privately-owned tow-truck arrived to move cars from the lot opposite.

Pre-dawn protest: Cathy Pierce told Daily Mail Online she drove for more than an hour to 'pick on' Dr Palmer for killing Cecil 

Ms Pierce and her cohort of protesters came armed with signs calling for Palmer's extradition 

A demonstrator holds up a sign featuring photos of the dead lion that reads: 'We Are Cecil, Hear Us Roar' 

Clear demand: The protesters were united in their desire to see the dentist punished for killing the prized lion

Making a scene: Cathy Pierce (pictured with the Roar for Cecil sign) and her fellow protesters are being interviewed and photographed outside Palmer's dental practice Tuesday 

Police presence: Local police insist they are not offering protection but there was a heavy police presence at his practice today

Quartet: Police stand guard at the dental practice of Walter Palmer in Bloomington, Minnesota 

unwelcome guests: A security guard warned journalists and cameramen to get off the dentist’s property

Palmer managed to climb out of a car almost unseen behind a bank of officers but in the final 30 yard dash to his surgery door he was spotted by reporters who bombarded him with questions.

Stony-faced and with his eyes firmly fixed on the entrance, he walked inside without offering a word.

Yards away from the police were half a dozen protesters who said they would carry on their demonstration until hunting big game was illegal.

‘The guy thought he could wait us out,’ Kristen Hall, 44, told Daily Mail Online as she brandished a poster saying ‘’Justice for Cecil – Extradite Walter Palmer.’’

‘He thought that if he just waited a while he could return to work like nothing ever happened and everything would be forgotten.

‘He’s not contrite at all. He kept using the words ‘took a lion’ in his interview – he didn’t take anything, he killed that lion.

‘He’s only sorry because this is harming his business. Showing up here today was my way of showing him that the pressure is not going to let up.

Majestic creature: Palmer stated in a weekend interview that had he known the importance of Cecil the Lion (pictured here in his prime), he would not have killed it July 1 

‘I want an end to trophy hunting – period. It’s western colonialism at its finest.’

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 industry.

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

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

Palmer has denied he went into hiding - but he was not seen for weeks while a phalanx of private investigators protected his three homes which are crammed full of animal heads and trophies from his numerous kills.

He finally returned home in mid-August and arranged his first interview with the The Associated Press and the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

But it’s understood the hated clinician attached a string of conditions, ruling out any photographs or video recordings and sticking to scripted responses provided by his legal adviser, Joe Friedberg

Speaking out: Palmer claimed in a weekend interview that had he known Cecil's importance, he would not have 'taken' the lion 

'I have a lot of staff members, and I’m a little heartbroken at the disruption in their lives,' Palmer said.

'And I’m a health professional. I need to get back to my staff and my patients, and they want me back. That’s why I’m back. I have a lot of staff members, and I’m a little heartbroken at the disruption in their lives

'If I had known this lion had a name and was important to the country or a study, obviously I wouldn't have taken it. Nobody in our hunting party knew before or after the name of this lion.''

Friedberg, a Minneapolis attorney, said he is acting as an unpaid consultant to Palmer and that he has heard nothing from authorities probing Cecil's death.

'I'm not Walter's lawyer in this situation because Walter doesn't need a lawyer in this situation,' Friedberg told the two news organizations.

River Bluff Dental became a focus for protests after Cecil's slaying as did the main Palmer residence in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.

His vacation home in upscale Marco Island, Florida was targeted by vandals who sprayed the words 'lion killer' on his garage door and littered his driveway with bloodied pigs' feet.

Palmer responded by hiring a private detective agency which provided armed guards and CCTV cameras to protected the safari-themed property.

Security was 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 were met by men in blacked-out SUVs and told to get off private property immediately. 

After Palmer was named in late July as the hunter who killed Cecil, his Bloomington clinic and Eden Prairie home became protest sites, and a vacation property he owns in Florida was vandalized. 

Palmer has been vilified across social media, with some posts suggesting violence against him. He described himself as 'a little heartbroken' for causing disruptions in the lives of staff at his clinic, which was shuttered for weeks until reopening in late August without him on the premises. 

And he said the ordeal has been especially hard on his wife and adult daughter, who both felt threatened.

'I don't understand that level of humanity to come after people not involved at all,' Palmer said.

As for himself, he said he feels safe enough to return to work — 'My staff and my patients support me and they want me back' — but declined to say where he's spent the last six weeks or describe security steps he has taken.

Palmer (left) is an avid big game hunter who has killed dozens of animals. Here he is pictured posing with a different slain lion 

'I've been out of the public eye. That doesn't mean I'm in hiding,' Palmer said. 'I've been among people, family and friends. Location is really not that important.'

Palmer, who has several big-game kills to his name, reportedly paid thousands of dollars for the guided hunt but wouldn't talk money on Sunday.

Theo Bronkhorst, a professional hunter who helped Palmer, has been charged with 'failure to prevent an illegal hunt.' Honest Ndlovu, whose property is near the park in western Zimbabwe, faces a charge of allowing the lion hunt to occur on his farm without proper authority.

Asked whether he would return to Zimbabwe for future hunts, Palmer said, 'I don't know about the future." He estimated he had been there four times and said, 'Zimbabwe has been a wonderful country for me to hunt in, and I have always followed the laws.'

In addition to the Cecil furor, Palmer pleaded guilty in 2008 to making false statements to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service about a black bear he fatally shot in western Wisconsin outside of the authorized hunting zone. He was given one year probation and fined nearly $3,000 as part of a plea agreement.

Cecil's killing set off a fierce debate over trophy hunting in Africa. Zimbabwe tightened regulations for lion, elephant and leopard hunting after the incident, and three major U.S. airlines changed policies to ban shipment of the trophies.

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