Hunter kills the ‘ largest elephant in Africa for 50 years’
IT’S a scene sure to raise painful memories of the controversial shooting of Cecil the lion just three months ago.
Posing next to his ‘kill’, a western hunter celebrates bringing down one of the biggest elephants in Zimbabwe.
The German paid £40,000 to shoot the majestic mammal, pausing afterwards with a highpowered rifle to congratulate his guide on the trophy.
The beast, thought to have been aged up to 60, was felled in Zimbabwe’s Gonarezhou National Park, it was reported yesterday.
A Facebook page supporting African game-hunting suggested it was the largest elephant killed in 50 years, calling the German a ‘lucky hunter’.
Reports suggest he paid the huge sum for a permit to shoot the large bull elephant as part of a 21-day organised hunt. Accompanied by a professional hunter, the package offers trophy hunt- ers a chance to kill the ‘Big Five’ – elephants, leopards, lions, buffalo and rhinoceros.
Experts say the animal’s huge tusks indicate a combined weight of 120lb – an exceptional size for the species.
Another shocking picture soon appeared on Facebook of a hunter proudly posing between the two monstrous tusks.
There was global outcry when Cecil the lion, a major attraction at Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park, was killed by US dentist Walter Palmer in July as part of an organised hunt. The predator was killed with a high-powered crossbow, prompting furious protesters to brand the American a ‘murderer’.
Mr Palmer’s dental practice in Minnesota was later forced to close temporarily as campaigners spent weeks outside.
Animal rights charities criticised the decision this week not to prosecute the dentist, but officials in Zimbabwe insist he had filled out the proper paperwork allowing him to hunt.
The identity of the German hunter is still not known. Last night the organiser of the elephant hunt insisted he did nothing wrong.
The man, who refused to be named, told the Daily Telegraph: ‘We hunters have thick skins and we know what the greenies will say. This elephant was probably 60 years old and had spread its seed many, many times over.
‘This is good for Zimbabwe and good for local people. It’s not uncommon for hunters to spend $100,000 (£64,551) each trip.’
Experts later scotched speculation that the elephant may have wandered from the protected reserved at the nearby Kruger National Park in South Africa. Kruger spokesman William Mabasa said: ‘If this elephant came up from the Kruger, he would have had to go through all the communities on the edge of Gonarezhou and someone would have seen him. It’s not possible.’ The bodies of 26 elephants poisoned by poachers were found in Hwange National Park on Tuesday.