German conservationist boasts of shooting 7m elephant dead

[SecularMotion]

ANIMAL rights campaigners yesterday called for a German conservation officer to be dismissed for shooting an elephant in Botswana and sending pictures of himself posing with his trophy to colleagues at work.

The official, named as Udo Wedekind, boasted in an email that killing the elephant "was really a challenge" in difficult conditions and described his delight at a "real hunting victory".

The hunting trip by Mr Wedekind, head of environmental protection in the central German state of Thuringia, coincided with an international conference in Botswana in December on protecting elephants from ivory poachers.

He was believed to be in the last group of tourists to shoot an elephant before a national hunting ban came into force. In the past, wealthy foreigners have paid up to $37,000 each for a kill.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/german-conservationist-boasts-of-shooting-7m-elephant-dead/story-fnb64oi6-1226816998281#

Stunts like this make hunters look bad.

[ManiacJoe]

1. Quite often they do just that.

Cannot get to the non-public article to read the story.

[sarisataka]

2. I inherited an elephant gun last year-

Ruger Number 1 Tropical in 416 Remington. It is a beast to shoot, or carry far. Really overpowered for any North American game except maybe bison or the largest bears.

Even if I could afford it I wouldn't go hunt elephant. Far too beautiful of animals and way more than I can eat. Also I would worry that if I didn't kill the elephant on the first shot it would shove that rifle so far up my ass I would sneeze lead. If an elephant charged I would likely use the gun on myself; it would save the animal a bit of effort and me a lot of pain.

[Eleanors38]

3. I don't think Botswana's hunting ban will help elephants.