German hunter pays $88,000 to shoot 'magnificent' bull elephant

The unnamed German hunter poses with the majestic elephant. Photo / Facebook

It is an image that will haunt conservationists: one of Africa's most majestic creatures lying dead on the ground as a white Western hunter poses proudly by its side.

Barely three months after the shooting of Cecil the lion provoked anger from animal lovers around the world, a German hunter has shot dead one of the largest elephants seen in Zimbabwe.

The elephant was estimated to have been between 40 and 60 years old. Its tusks confirmed its exceptional nature, weighing a combined 120lb.

It was shot on October 8 in a private hunting concession bordering Gonarezhou National Park by a hunter who paid $60,000 (NZ$88,304) for a permit and was accompanied by a local hunter.

The unnamed German had travelled to Zimbabwe to conduct a 21-day game hunt including the "Big Five" of elephants, leopards, lions, buffalo and rhinoceros.

The kill was celebrated in hunting forums around the world, where it was suggested it might have been the biggest elephant killed in Africa for almost 20 years.

Conservationists in the area expressed their outrage, saying the animal was one of a kind. Anthony Kaschula, who operates a photographic safari firm in Gonarezhou, said: "Individual elephants such as these should be accorded their true value as a national heritage and should be off limits to hunting."

Unlike Cecil, shot by an American dentist in Hwange National Park using a bow and arrow in July, the elephant's origin was not immediately known with speculation it may have come up from South Africa.

Louis Muller, chairman of the Zimbabwe Professional Hunters & Guides Association, said the hunter hadn't realised how big his prey was. "He told me when he and his client were stalking this elephant he saw the tusks were big but did not realize just how big until afterwards and he saw them close," he told The Daily Telegraph.

He said his organisation had previously suggested that exceptional elephants should be collared to protect them from hunting.

The man who helped arrange the hunt, who did not want to be named, defended his client. "This was a legal hunt and the client did nothing wrong," he said. "We hunters have thick skins."

He said the hunt was "good for Zimbabwe" as 70 per cent of the fees went to the local community.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe National Parks has called for stiffer penalties for poachers after 26 elephants killed by cyanide poisoning were found in the Hwange National Park.