Outrage after hunter shoots dead sleeping lion and celebrates its death
WARNING – DISTRESSING CONTENT: There’s been widespread outrage after a man was filmed hunting and killing a sleeping lion.
Video shared on Protect All Wildlife’s Twitter account shows two men shooting the big cat before celebrating the kill.
The hunter, identified only as Mr Goney, is seen staring down his rifle as he’s advised to be behind the shadow to not alert the lion.
The lion lies on the ground before the man fires a shot.
It’s not known if the first shot hits the lion but it’s enough for him to begin to rise before another shot is fired.
“That was too low,” a man says, and Mr Goney takes another shot.
“Okay, okay. Don’t do anymore.”
The lion lies in the dirt dead. Mr Goney is congratulated.
The pair then inspect the kill.
“Very nice lion. Beautiful,” the man says.
The video has been re-tweeted more than 2300 times and has infuriated people.
One man called the pair “gutless creeps” and another “spineless”.
“Despicable. This makes me sick,” one woman tweeted.
“What a disgusting ‘human being’,” another woman tweeted.
“Is this legal even? It’s certainly inhumane to shoot a sleeping lion or any animal. We are killing the planet and all that’s in it. I can’t describe my disgust at this.”
According to World Wildlife Federation, there are only about 20,000 African lions in the wild due to a loss of living space and conflict with people.
Game hunting has made headlines across the globe in recent years.
In February, many were angry after a Texas man paid $150,000 to travel to Pakistan and kill an endangered species of goat.
In October, a wildlife official was forced to resign after photographs of him posing with a family of baboons and other wild creatures he killed in September during a hunting trip in Africa went viral online, igniting a firestorm of criticism.
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