HARARE, Zimbabwe (The Adobo Chronicles® ) – Zimbabwe authorities say that a Minnesota dentist is responsible for slaying one of the country’s most beloved lions.

On Tuesday, The Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force said in a statement that Walter James Palmer of Eden Prairie, Minn., paid at least $50,000 to track and kill the animal.

The conservation group and Zimbabwe authorities said that Palmer ultimately killed Cecil, a protected lion and one of the most famous animals at the  Hwange National Park. Cecil was fitted with a GPS collar and tracked by the Oxford University research program, according to a statement from Johnny Rodrigues, the chairman for Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force.

Charges of poaching are being readied against Palmer.

Zimbabwe takes its anti-poaching laws very seriously. There is an obscure law in Zimbabwe that gives authorities the liberty to determine the appropriate penalties for those convicted of poaching.

If convicted, Palmer will face a very hefty fine plus extraction of his entire set of teeth. Who says the law doesn’t have teeth?  Or is this a case of “an eye for eye; a tooth for a tooth?”