The world’s most hated dentist went from the hunter to the hunted this week as vandals targeted his Florida vacation home with spray paint and pickled pigs’ feet — forcing him to hire a bunch of ex-cops for protection Tuesday.
“We have armed investigators on the property, we’re setting up covert cameras, we’re documenting all license plates and we also have other mechanisms set up, but I won’t say what they are,” private investigator Walter Zalisko, a former Jersey City, NJ, cop, told The Post. “Every investigator is a former police officer. They are all highly trained, armed with handguns and are all licensed by the state of Florida.”
After learning that someone spray-painted the words “lion killer” on his garage door and dumped an array of pigs’ feet in the driveway of his $1.1 million waterfront property in upscale Marco Island sometime overnight Monday, disgraced dentist Walter Palmer called up Global Investigative Group, a Florida detective agency headed by Zalisko, and hired them to stand guard outside his home.
“The investigators will be working at various times during the day,” Zalisko explained. “They’re not too concerned with what’s going on with Mr. Palmer.”
Palmer, who hails from Minnesota, came under fire last month after he was accused of illegally killing Cecil the lion, one of Zimbabwe’s most beloved big cats. Zimbabwean officials are currently seeking his extradition.
“We don’t dwell on the accusations,” Zalisko said. “Our jobs are specific and we just take care of business. We don’t let our personal feelings get in the way. We’re all former police officers and we’ve seen it all. We just do our jobs.”
Zalisko, a 35-year veteran of the Jersey City police force, added that he believed the vandalism that occurred at Palmer’s home was the work of either “kids or animal activists.”
“I think the cameras, going forward, are going to know,” he said. “Whoever it is, they need to stop it or they will pay the price. If we catch someone on the property, the investigators will have the lawful right to detain them, call police and file charges.”
While Palmer reportedly paid $55,000 to hunt Cecil, Zalisko refused to reveal the amount of money the dentist coughed up to keep his house safe. Zalisko did, however, admit that it wasn’t cheap.
“We’re expensive, but there’s a reason why we’re expensive,” Zalisko said. “Because we’re one of the best around.”
Meanwhile, the professional hunter who helped Palmer slay Cecil near Hwange National Park in western Zimbabwe dismissed the case against him in court there Tuesday, calling it “frivolous” and “wrong” because hunting is “an integral part of our country and it’s got to continue and if we do not use wildlife sustainably, there will be no wildlife.”
