Britons pay up to £6,000 to shoot entire herds of elephants - including calves - in Zimbabwe



Britons are heading out to Africa to shoot herds of elephants, with prominent names including a well-known Harley Street surgeon joining the hunt.

Hunters - using the argument that the animals are pest which are destroying large swathes of the Zimbabwe landscape - are paying up to an estimated £6,000 to help 'cull' the 100,000 population.

Whole herds can be destroyed in a go, with parties aiming to wipe out entire families in one go - including calves - before posing perched on top of the carcass.

Elephants are social creatures - however hunters are paying up to £6,000 to shoot the animals, claiming they are a pest that need to be culled

It has long been believed that Zimbabwe was allowing culls, but this is the first time foreigners, including Britons, have been confirmed on the hunt.

One party, led by professional hunting outfitter Peter Carr, a Yorkshireman, went to Hwange National Park last year to cull a herd of 11 elephants, including 'teenager' calves.

The 5,600-square mile park is said to home 50,000 elephants, which is thought to be twice the park's capacity.

British orthapaedic surgeon Benjamin Chang, based in London's Harley Street, went on the hunt, paying £5,600 to join the slaughter.

Most of the money went to the park authorities, allowing Mr Carr and Mr Chang to shoot three elephants each before posing on top of the dead elephants.

The pair used specialist rifles to take down the animals, and said it was the most humane ways of killing them, even though sometimes it took more than one shot.

Critics argue that the population should be kept under control through habitat expansion, relocation or even the use of contraception.

Born Free Foundation Will Travers told The Times newspaper: 'These days it takes something pretty extraordinary to shock and distress as far as Zimbabwe is concerned. But news of the slaughter of elephants inside national parks still has the power to make you sick to your stomach.'

The African elephant population is thought to stand at 500,000 - down from 1.2million three decades ago

International Fund for Animal Welfare elephant programme manager Michael Wamithi said the money paid for the hunt would not reach conservation efforts.

He said: 'Because of the corruption and financial situation I would be surprised if anything at all reached conservation or communities.'

Carr, who is writing a book about hunting big game, said: 'The elephants are slowly turning the land there into a desert.

'I consider myself a champion for elephants but they must be culled, although it’s such an awful word it makes the "bunnyhuggers" spit their dummies out.

'No one feels great after culling a herd: it is quite a sombre mood. You have to kill all of them - if any escape they can spread panic in other herds.

'I took one party over [including Chang] and had another 18 clients lined up, half of whom were British, but after that the reports of violence and unrest caused them to back out.'

Hunters defend their actions, saying there are too many Zimbabwean elephants, but critics call for more humane efforts

Ivory has been sold legally under international law by Zimbabwe to China and Japan, with one sale last November - one sale of nearly four tons made £330,000.

The African elephant population has dropped from an estimated 1.3million in 1979 to about 500,000 today, but in some areas they are considered too numerous.

Since Zimbabwe's freefall into poverty and famine, some Zimbabweans have been killing elephants for food.

Chang, 49, told The Times: 'The meat goes to the village. They are queuing at the camp saying, "Please give us the meat."

'I was told one elephant will feed one village for three and a half months.'

Change also shot a lioness in South Africa. He defended his actions, saying: 'The army could have done the cull themselves but they don’t have the right guns. You can’t use an automatic rifle, that would just be cruel.'