Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been criticised by animal rights groups in Sweden after reportedly shooting a moose during a hunting trip.

The Paris Saint-Germain striker is enjoying his mid-season break in his homeland but the Swedish newspaper Expressen ran a story on its front page over the weekend claiming the 33-year-old had killed the 500kg animal “with one shot through its heart”.

His actions clearly impressed Bo Skold, the general secretary of the Swedish Association for Hunting, who admitted he had never shot an animal of similar size. However, Camilla Björkbom, of Sweden’s Animal Rights’ Union was not so glowing in her praise.

“It is problematic,” she told Expressen. “It is always problematic when famous people do things like that, because then it looks like they support this type of activities.”

Hunting is legal in Sweden, with an estimated 300,000 hunters in a population of just over nine million. Ibrahimovic, who is believed to have held a hunting licence since 2010, has spoken of his love for the pastime many times and even appeared in a Volvo advert earlier this year where he was shown aiming his rifle at a moose.