There was an upturn from all over the world when Walter Palmer, a dentist from Minnesota, admitted to killing Zimbabwe's most famous lion during his hunting trip. He has been flooded with insult and abuses from internet users around the world.

Palmer's Google page has been swamped with hundreds of one star for his dental practice. Some of the reviews read "Coward" and "Bloodthirsty trophy hunter", "He lured me into his dental practice, then shot me with a bow and arrow.”

Internet users also created a parody Twitter account in the name of Palmer's practice - River Bluff Dental - to mock the dentist, and fooled members of the baying mob. "Less negativity! More positivity please!" read one tweet, with another one reading #LionsLivesMatter hashtag.

People who thought the account was real kept asking "Are you trying to make light of the death of a legendary lion?”

A petition demanding "Justice for Cecil” that was created before Palmer admitted to killing Cecil and requesting the President of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, to stop issuing hunting licences, has now exceeded 300,000 signatures. Recent signatories are aiming their annoyance at the dentist. "Make an example of this dentist," wrote one British signatory.

The hashtag #CecilTheLion in Twitter, which trended worldwide, has been used almost 250,000 times in the past 24 hours. Ricky Gervais’ single tweet has been retweeted and favourited more than 40,000 times.

The comedian has been a vocal supporter of animal rights for a long time, on the social network. In April, he tweeted an image of Rebecca Francis, who hosts an American television programme called Eye of the Hunter, lying next to a dying giraffe. Both Francis and Palmer have received a slew of death threats on social media.

Meanwhile, Palmer said he was unaware of the fact that Cecil had been a "local favourite" and now “regrets”, adding that to his knowledge everything about the trip had been legal and properly handled and conducted.