The safari guide accused of luring Cecil the lion out of a Zimbabwean wildlife reserve, so that an American hunter could kill the animal, said on Tuesday he had no second thoughts about his actions.

"I do not feel I have done anything wrong," Theo Bronkhorst told NBC News in a telephone interview. "This has been a very stressful time for me and my family. We have been pulled into something we are not happy with."

The hunter, Minnesota dentist Walter Palmer, allegedly paid Bronkhorst $50,000 to lure the lion so that he could shoot it with a bow. The guide pleaded not guilty last week to a charge of failing to prevent the unlawful killing of Cecil.

Bronkhorst, who lives in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second-largest city, runs a company called Bushman Safari that describes itself as a "family-run safari outfit." On its Facebook page, the firm has published more than 170 photos of hunters alongside their kills, according to NBC News.

Both he and Palmer claimed they were unaware that Cecil had been collared and protected after the cat's death caused an international outcry. Both men, though, have been harshly criticized on social media and at protests near the American's dental practice, Sky News detailed.

Although Palmer has not been charged with any offense in Zimbabwe, the White House is said to be reviewing a petition demanding consequences for the tourist, which has been signed by more than 140,000 individuals, the British channel added.

Bronkhorst, meanwhile, told Agence France-Presse that Palmer had obtained multiple permits for killing a lion using a bow and arrow and that they selected Cecil because they believed the animal was past breeding age. His client "is a totally innocent party to this whole thing," having "bought a hunt from me that was legitimate," the guide insisted.

Fifty-five-year-old Bronkhorst is set to stand trial on Wednesday and has been released on a $1,000 bail in the meantime, the Washington Post noted.