A recent study has revealed that over the past decade one animal was killed every three minutes by bloodthirsty trophy hunters. It also revealed that more than 1.7 million animals have been killed over the last years, including elephants, lions and endangered rhinos.
According to a DailyMail report, the figures have emerged in Eduardo Goncalves’s book, ‘Trophy Leaks: Top Hunters And Industry Secrets’. The book further focused on the connections between the elite class and the industry.
Goncalve’s book also made several claims about the trophy hunting industry including – South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has taken a large sum of money by selling rare species to various trophy-hunters. The book also revealead that Ramaphosa is one of the members of a breeding programme.
Further, the book stated that the African Big 5 award is won be close to 800 hunters till now. In order to win the award, a hunters need to kill a black/white rhino, leopard, lion, buffalo and an elephant. Goncalves said that future generations will look back ‘aghast at how we allowed the world’s most endangered species to be shot down’.
He also pointed out that trophy hunting isn’t just about a handful of bloodthirsty individuals, but it is also about a massive global industry which thrives and wields extraordinary power and manipulates governments, he added.
Gonclaves, founder of the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting as well as being an author, brand trophy hunting as ‘artificial selection’ which targets bigger animals like elephants, while it leaves the weaker and smaller animals behind.
His book also details information about a new air craze dubbed as ‘Hogpocalypse Now’ which offers hunters the chance to open fire on gangs of wild hogs from a helicopter. The website of a Texas-based company named Helicopter Pig Hunting offers experience in the state of Texas. The website reads, ‘There’s nothing like buzzing over droves of hogs while cutting loose with your itchy trigger finger.’
Despite websites like Hogpocalypse Now, which encourages trophy hunting, Goncalves’ campaign to ban trophy-hunting has found support in the form of celebrities including Leonardo DiCaprio and Joanna Lumley.