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The Minnesota dentist that was at the center of controversy surrounding the killing of a famed lion named Cecil will not be charged with any crime in Zimbabwe, according to a report Monday morning.

“We approached the police and then the Prosecutor General, and it turned out that [Walter] Palmer came to Zimbabwe because all the papers were in order,” Environment Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri told reporters, saying the American dentist could not be charged.

Palmer returned to work at his Bloomington, Minn., dental practice in early September and was met with a group of protesters, media and animal activists.

Palmer has long maintained he was hunting legally and said he was stunned when he found out someone in his hunting party killed Cecil.