Hunter shoots biggest elephant killed in Africa for 30 years

Hunter shoots biggest elephant killed in Africa for 30 years:
A hunter has shot dead what is believed to be the biggest elephant killed for “sport” in Africa for 30 years, according to reports.

The animal, one of the largest elephants ever seen in Zimbabwe, was killed on 8 October in an area set aside for private hunting, which borders the Gonarezhou National Park, The Daily Telegraph reported.

A German hunter reportedly paid about £39,000 (77,681 CAD) for a permit to shoot a large bull elephant and was led by an experienced local guide. 

Organisers of the hunt declined to name the hunter, who went to Zimbabwe to shoot the so-called Big Five of targets: an elephant, a leopard, a lion, a buffalo and a rhinoceros.
Elephants are being killed at such a rate – mainly by poachers – that there are fears they could become extinct within a generation.

Anthony Kaschula, who runs a photographic safari company, took pictures of the hunt and posted them on his Facebook page, but appeared to have removed them.

He wrote on the page that the elephant should not have been killed.

“We have no control over poaching but we do have control over hunting policy that should acknowledge that animals such as this one are of far more value alive (to both hunters and non-hunters) than dead,” he said