A Canadian couple was photographed kissing behind a dead lion they shot during an African safari, drawing ire from social media users around the world.
It’s not clear if the couple shot the lion. Big-game hunting is legal under South Africa.
“Hard work in the hot Kalahari sun … well done,” the original post said, it was reported. “A monster lion.”
Another photo showed the couple posing with the carcass of a white lion.
“Back in South Africa! Part two of our safari!” they wrote on Twitter on June 26. The tweet also mentions Legelela Safaris.
Darren told The Mirror about the dead lion photo: “We aren’t interested in commenting on that at all. It’s too political.”
On social media, many people flooded them with negative comments.
“Your despicable hunting photos have made headline news,” one woman wrote, reported Global News. “You aren’t heroes but villains. What a disgrace you are.”
Another person said that they would face karmic retribution for their actions.
Trophy Hunting a Help?
There has been speculation that if some African countries were to end big-game trophy hunting, it would harm conservation efforts.“Nearly half of the hunters they interviewed also indicated that they’d be willing to pay an equivalent price for a poorer trophy if it was a problem animal that would have had to be killed anyway,” the magazine says.
Botswana Lifts Ban
Botswana’s government has lifted a ban on elephant hunting.The move is apt to anger conservationists, who have in the past reacted with outrage at any move that weakened the protection of elephants in Botswana, which has the world’s largest population of the animals, estimated at some 130,000.
Conservation groups last September denounced moves by Botswana’s government to strip the wildlife department of weapons used for the sometimes dangerous work of thwarting armed poachers.
At the time, President Mokgweetsi Masisi called the reactions “nothing but hysteria.”
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