Hunter pays $350,000 to kill black rhino
It’s been 18 months since Texas hunter Corey Knowlton bid $350,000 for a permit to hunt and kill a black rhino in Namibia.
The permit was issued by Namibia's Ministry of Environment and Tourism and auctioned by the Dallas Safari Club.
When Mr Knowlton won the permit he became a target himself but this week he completed the hunt.
Since the winning bid was revealed Knowlton faced scathing criticism and death threats as the world reacted to the controversial hunt of one of the world’s most endangered species.
But Knowlton ignored it. Instead spending the last year and a half preparing for the highly scrutinised hunt.
This week he agreed to let CNN reporters document it.
"At this point, the whole world knows about this hunt and I think it's extremely important that people know it's going down the right way, in the most scientific way that it can possibly happen," Knowlton told CNN reporters.
The 36-year-old from Dallas, defended his actions as not that of a bloodthirsty hunter but a vital component of Namibia's effort to save the animal from extinction.
Knowlton’s money will go to fund the government anti-poaching efforts across the country.
He argued that he was killing an older rhino bull, which no longer contributed to the gene pool and could potentially kill younger males.
He said it was part of the science of conservation.
"I think people have a problem just with the fact that I like to hunt," Knowlton said. "I want to see the black rhino as abundant as it can be. I believe in the survival of the species."
However opponents like the International Fund for Animal Welfare have not been swayed, saying hunting as conservation is a bankrupt notion.
"We'll simply never agree with that," fund director Azzedine Downes told CNN.
"There's a lot of other things that we can and must do in order to protect these animals."
According to animal conservationists, there are approximately 5000 black rhinos in the wild worldwide today, 2,000 of them in Namibia.
According to CNN, the hunt was sanctioned and monitored by Namibia's Ministry of Environment and Tourism. It identified 18 black rhinos across the country that met the criteria for being hunted and eliminated.
It stipulated that the rhino must be an older one that was no longer reproducing and was considered a threat to other younger, healthier ones.
Rhinos are intensely territorial and will often kill each other in gruesome fights.
Knowlton targeted one of four black rhinos at the top of the government list, the ones considered "high priority threats to the herd."
With the help of government trackers, he found one he was permitted to hunt.
Knowlton told CNN that killing the wrong rhino would be a catastrophic mistake.
Last year, one of Knowlton's critics suggested the trophy hunting of a black rhino was like shooting a couch in a living room.
"So this is just like hunting a couch? Give me a break," he said. "This isn't easy. It's brutal."
After a few days of searching for the ‘right rhino’ Knowlton and his group find it.
He shoots at it with four shots of his high-powered 500 Nitro Express rifle.
According to CNN it was hit at least three times.
"Any time you take an animal's life it's an emotional thing," Knowlton told CNN.
The Namibian government official assured confirmed the rhino was on the approved hunting list.
Afterward CNN asked Knowlton if he felt killing the black rhino was the right thing to do.
"I felt like from day one it was something benefiting the black rhino," Knowlton told reporters.
"Being on this hunt, with the amount of criticism it brought and the amount of praise it brought from both sides, I don't think it could have brought more awareness to the black rhino."
