African hunter who killed thousands of elephants and dozens of hippos is ‘unrepentant’
A hunter, who previously boasted about killing 32 elephants in less than 15 minutes, has admitted he got a “great thrill” killing thousands of animals.
A hunting fanatic who has killed at least 5000 elephants and 60 lions says he has no regrets because killing animals gives him a “thrill”.
Zimbabwean Ron Thomson was identified as one of the world’s most prolific hunters in a report that named Britain as among the “deadly dozen” nations of trophy hunters, The Sun reports.
Mr Thomson previously boasted about killing 32 elephants in one go — and it only took him 15 minutes.
On his website, he claims to have slaughtered more than 800 buffalo, up to 40 leopards, about 50 hippos “and many more”.
Growing up in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, he began hunting as a teenager and quickly became an expert.
From 1959, he worked as a national parks ranger and was regularly called on to kill animals.
Mr Thomson told The Independent he no longer regularly hunts but may do so if invited.
“I’ve done enough in my lifetime to satisfy any ‘bloodlust’ people may think I have,” he said.
“It wasn’t bloodlust — it was my job. I didn’t have any sentiment. I’m totally unrepentant, a hundred – 10 thousand – times over for any of the hunting I’ve done because that’s not the problem.”
Previously speaking to The Guardian, Mr Thomson said he enjoyed hunting.
“It was a great thrill to me, to be very honest,” he said.
“Some people enjoy hunting just as much as other people abhor it. I happened to enjoy it.”
As well as enjoying the hunt, Mr Thomson said he was motivated to kill to help populations survive.
He claimed that some species would destroy their own habitats if their growing numbers are not controlled.
BIG GAME HUNTER
Mr Thomson accused western conservationists of spreading “fraudulent lies” to extract money from the public while understanding nothing about managing wildlife.
“When you have a healthy population you must ensure they don’t increase beyond the capacity of their habitat,” he said.
His comments came after a shocking report by the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting revealed elephant ivory stolen by hunters has increased twelve-fold over the past 30 years.
Meanwhile, elephant populations have plunged from about 1.3 million to just 400,000.
“The trophy hunting industry is slaughtering elephants left, right and centre,” Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting founder Eduardo Gonçalves told the Daily Mirror.
“Killing elephants for fun is unacceptable, even more so because of the seriousness of the current crisis. The recent surge in elephant hunting shows that the industry is out of control.”
UK hunters have taken more than 1089 elephant trophies and more than a tonne of ivory back home from Africa, the new report reveals.
Brit hunter Malcolm King was also outed as one of the world’s top big game hunters.
Last week a rhino poacher was trampled to death by elephants then eaten by lions at Kruger National Park in South Africa.
This article originally appeared on The Sun and has been republished here with permission
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