A South African hunter who had shot a wild buffalo was himself killed by another member of the herd, reports say.

Claude Kleynhans, 54, was attacked by a large male buffalo as he was loading a carcass onto a vehicle in Limpopo province, north east South Africa.

The buffalo tore the father-of-three's femoral artery and he died at the scene, Citizen.co.za reports.

Killed: Professional hunter Claude Kleynhans, 54, was attacked by a large male buffalo as he was loading the carcass of another buffalo onto vehicle in Limpopo province, South Africa

Mr Kleynhans, who ran a hunting safari company in nearby Tzanen, had been out on a guided hunting trip with clients when he died last Tuesday.

Another South African news website hailed Mr Kleynhans, a former police officer, as 'one of the country’s finest ethical hunters' with an interest in hunting for conservation as well as trophy.

He ran the company Guwela Safari, which organises safaris where trophy hunters would pay $2,850 if they shoot a giraffe and $1,500 if they shoot zebra.

Their tariff list on their website also offers hunts for buffalo, hyena, hippo and elephant, but writes that the trophy fee is provided on request.

In the wake of his death, a number of people have sought out Mr Kleynhans' public Facebook and posted offensive messages.

Hunted down: Mr Kleynhans was attacked by a large buffalo which tore his femoral artery

One woman named Pamela Tomaro D'Angio wrote: 'I love when Poachers get killed by the animals it makes me extremely happy!!

'Hope you don't RIP you f***ing sucker. You killed plenty of animals and now it was your turn you useless sick minded coward. Rot in hell.'

One man named Pedro Resendes wrote 'Karma is a B****!!!!, while Matt Skee added: 'I hope his loser family reads these... Claude deserved everything he got....'

Mr Kleynhans, described as a passionate Christian, leaves behind two daughters and a son.

The African buffalo, or the Cape buffalo, is one of the 'Big Five', which also includes lion, leopard, rhinoceros and elephant.

The 54-year-old father-of-three ran a hunting safari company in Tzanen, Limpopo province

It is widely distributed throughout southern and eastern Africa and is not endangered, however Cape buffalo hunting in South Africa is still monitored and so-called trophy hunting is carried out by specialist safari companies.

The Cape buffalo is considered to be a dangerous pray, as it can become extremely aggressive and vindictive when it perceives itself to be in danger.

When a member of a herd is attacked by a predator, such as a lion, the other members will rush to its defence.

According to Animal Planet, Cape buffalo have killed more hunters in Africa than any other animal, and are known to ambush hunters if they have been wounded by them.

Mr Kleynhans' death comes just a few months after a Croatian trophy hunter was shot dead by a stray bullet after killing a lion.

Pero Jelinic, 75, had another lion in his sights when he was shot and killed at a farm in northwest South Africa, 40 miles from the border with Botswana.

Jelinec died in January after travelling to South Africa to bag a lion trophy, having shot 'everything that could be hunted in Europe', according to a friend.