A big game hunter has been killed after an elephant that had been shot landed on top of him. Theunis Both, aged 51, was killed during a hunt in the Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe.
Both and a group of other hunters came across three female elephants with calves, who when noticing the hunting group, charged at them. The hunters were able to kill the elephants before they reached them. However, while distracted, another elephant ran into the group and picked up Both with its trunk. When one of the other hunters shot the elephant holding onto Both, it died and collapsed on top of him.
Both ran a huge hunting business that had operations spanning across Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, and Mozambique. His company is believed to have made large amounts of money from taking international hunters on tours to hunt down big game animals such as elephants and was responsible for thousands of deaths. The hunters were charged almost $40,000 for a trip with Botha's company. It is believed that the company had a particular focus on taking hunters to kill lions and leopards.
He left behind a wife and five children.
Elephants are regarded as being an endangered species and only around 350,000 of them remain in the wild in Africa. Prior to the 20th century, elephant numbers were in the millions, but hunting, habitat destruction, and industrial farming has led to their demise.
The elephants are hunted for fun by big-game hunters, for their tusks by poachers, who sell on the body parts for hundreds-of-thousands of dollars, and by farmers who see them as a threat to their crops.
It has been claimed by those such as Botha, who run hunting businesses, that the money brought in by big-game hunting can actually help save elephants if it is used to help fund conservation projects. This idea is supported by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, who say:
"Well-managed trophy hunting can provide both revenue and incentives for people to conserve and restore wild populations, maintain areas of land for conservation, and protect wildlife from poaching."
This idea is however rejected by experts such as Sebastian Troeng, executive vice president of Conservation International, who says the idea just doesn't make sense. He told reporters:
"It's impossible to sustainably harvest a species that's declining. The notion that killing elephants is helping elephants doesn't hold water."
[h/t: The Premier Daily]
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