A HEARTLESS safari company is offering bargain hunting packages with a sickening kill one, shoot one for free deal. Mkulu African Hunting Safaris’ advert states: “Book a lion hunt with us and add a lioness at no extra cost.” The South Africa-based firm brags it offers “unrivalled Big 5 hunting safari packages” and lion hunting […]
A HEARTLESS safari company is offering bargain hunting packages with a sickening kill one, shoot one for free deal.
Mkulu African Hunting Safaris’ advert states: “Book a lion hunt with us and add a lioness at no extra cost.”
The South Africa-based firm brags it offers “unrivalled Big 5 hunting safari packages” and lion hunting safaris.
The ‘Big 5’ consists of the Cape Buffalo, elephant, leopard, lion, and rhinoceros – which are the most difficult and most dangerous species to hunt.
The news comes as wildlife campaigners say it is has never been cheaper to become a trophy hunter, reports The Mirror.
Eduardo Goncalves, of the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting, said: “Business is booming for the trophy industry.
“Before, it was just the landed gentry and army colonels who went on hunting safaris.
“Today, it’s gas engineers, utility company customer service managers, NHS suppliers, internet provider supervisors and even pensioners jetting off to kill wild animals for fun.
“Last-minute deals and cancellation offers mean some hunters are shopping around for bargains. It’s like Black Friday but for the animals every day is a black day.”
Cheaper flights has led to a huge escalation in the number of trophy hunting firms setting up in South Africa, Botswana and Namibia.
The Mirror also reports on one company offering bargain rates on a vile “cull package.”
The deadly “deal” at Rance River Reserve, South Africa offers “5 day, 7 animals, 4 hunters £1,499; 2 hunters £1,799.
“Choose 7 between: Black wildebeest, Bontebok, Impala (f), Impala (m) Jackal, Kudu (f under 53”), Warthog, Baboon, Vervet Monkey. Add a Zebra for £350.”
Another firm – Discount African Hunts – sells hunting packages under the banner “making Africa affordable”.
The hunting firm even sends out a weekly newsletter showing off last minute cancellation deals.
During the summer, Manish Ghelabhai travelled to South Africa with Pawprint Safari – which runs hunts for £1,800 plus flights.
The Norfolk gas engineer is pictured on the company’s Facebook page next to a dead lion – which typically costs £4,000.
He wrote online: “I always thought that I would struggle to afford a hunting trip to Africa.”
The ex- soldier, who served in Iraq, told the Times: “Shooting is a conservation tool but people see pictures of rich Americans grinning over dead animals …Turning land into farms creates a wildlife desert.
“It’s our responsibility to ensure there is a future.”
Other trophy hunters also believe the money they spend on safaris is actually helping SAVE wildlife.
“I can go on a five-day African hunt for about £2,000, plus air fares,” said Graham Jeffery, 69, a retired health and safety officer from Gravesend in Kent, who hunts antelope.
“If it wasn’t for hunting money, the land would be turned over to cattle so although we kill some animals, overall it protects wildlife.”
In March we told how a coward filmed shooting a sleeping lion in Zimbabwe had been revealed as a remorseless trophy hunter who boasted about killing rare beasts.
Guy Gorney, from Illnois, was branded a “scumbag” on social media, after cruel footage of him shooting the big cat caused an online storm.
Goncalves added: “Giraffes, elephants, zebras and even primates are being shot for ‘fun’ and their trophies brought into the UK for the bragging rights . . . Trophy hunting in Africa is a colonial-era abomination long past its sell-by date.”
The Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting says British hunters have imported 113 lion trophies, 168 leopard trophies and 852 elephant trophies in the past decade.
