J Austin & Associates has ended its engagement with Walter Palmer, the Minnesota dentist that has been identified as having killed Cecil the Lion during a hunting trip in Zimbabwe.
"Yesterday a colleague at another firm asked me to assist in distributing Dr. Palmer’s statement to the global media," Jon Austin, owner of J Austin & Associates told PRWeek. "Having completed that task over the last 24 hours, it’s a natural end point for my engagement."
He declined to disclose the name of the firm that asked him to assist with the situation.
Austin also tweeted on Wednesday afternoon about the end of his work with Palmer.
Yesterday another PR firm asked to help distribute Dr. Palmer’s statement. Having completed that task, we've ended our work on this issue.
— Jon Austin (@jmaustin) July 29, 2015
Austin told PRWeek he did not know if Palmer had taken on another PR firm to help him with the crisis.
Palmer caused international outrage this week after it was reported that he paid tens of thousands of dollars to take part in a big game hunt in Zimbabwe that resulted in the death of Cecil the Lion, a big cat well known to tourists.
Animal rights groups expressed outrage at the incident, and #cecilthelion was trending on Twitter on Wednesday morning.
