Trophy hunter who targeted elephants and lions gets eaten by crocodiles

14
16664

All animal lovers are opposed to trophy hunting. It can be hard to believe that there are people who enjoy killing at-risk animals like lions and rhinos.

This “sport” has pushed many species to the brink of extinction, but despite controversy and pushback from conservation groups this kind of hunting remains legal in many places.

But sometimes the animal kingdom has its own sense of justice… and one hunter came to a demise that could be described as “karma.”

poster

Scott Van Zyl was a prolific trophy hunter from South Africa. In addition to being a hunter himself, Van Zyl operated a “safari” company where he would take clients on big game hunts as well.

His targets included lions, cheetahs, giraffes and elephants.

In 2017, Van Zyl headed out on one of his hunting trip in Zimbabwe… only this time, he didn’t return.

According to the BBC, the hunter headed out with a pack of dogs and a local tracker. He went off on his own in search of crocodiles, and was believed to be missing when his tracker dogs returned without him.

They found his footprints and bag near the river bank. Local authorities investigated the crocodiles… and found human remains that a DNA test confirmed belonged to Van Zyl.

After the story broke, many people wrote that he had it coming: that it was karma for killing so many animals.

One Green Planet, while not celebrating the hunter’s death, said the case is just more proof of why we shouldn’t allow trophy hunting: it puts the hunters’ lives at needless risk.

“Let’s be honest, Zyl shouldn’t have been hunting in the first place,” they wrote. “We have to ask ourselves if the ‘thrill of the hunt’ is really worth risking your own life – while deliberately taking others.”

What do you think of this story? Did this hunter deserve what happened to him? Share this story with your thoughts!

SHARE

14 COMMENTS

  1. Real journalist report news. The opinions stated as facts and obvious attempts to tell readers what to think is the work of a dishonest armature.

  2. This is one of the most irresponsible positions I’ve ever heard. Any person who actually looks into the facts knows hunting in a responsible way benefits any species. Clearly, you’ve never seen an animal taken down, killed,and eaten by predators. Nor does it occur to you to consider over-population.

    Grow up.

    • You’re absolutely correct.

      People don’t realize the significance and benefits of trophy hunting.
      •It’s a conservation tool
      •The income it brings to the locality is significant. $50,000 is not unheard of per hunt.
      •The meat goes to feed the local community. You cannot bring the meat home.
      •It is illegal to hunt endangered species. That is poaching.
      •Lions and other big cats claim the lives of local people constantly. They cheer when these cats are culled from the area.
      •Cape Buffalo is also known as “Black Death” for a reason.
      •Elephants and Giraffes strip the land of edible food and starve.

      The list of benefits goes on. Think logically and not just with your heart.

    • Trophy hunting does not weed out the sick and injured. Hunters want their trophies to be strong and beautiful. That is not conservation. Trophy hunters often engage their guides in luring the animals to a spot where they are easy to kill. Some animals are raised specifically to be shot for trophies. Some hunters do not give a toss about poaching rules, and you know that. If the animals starve to death, that is nature, as cruel as it is. Killing an intelligent, social animal like an elephant is disgusting. I bet the hunter trophy gets an erection despite using powerful weapons against such a wonderful creature.All this crap about culling is just that, crap. The income would be better earned with safari trips. I have ZERO sympathy for these hunters when they are killed by their prey or by other animals. Tough luck. A few more giraffes might live. I am using my real name here, hunter defenders. Don’t bother trying to track me down on FB to leave nasty messages. My FB is locked down so that I don’t have to read the sentiments of you knuckle draggers.

      • I couldn’t agree more Judy. Trophy hunting is the opposite of conservation. It is just used as an excuse for an ego driven sport that should never be allowed in this day and age. We are not hunter gatherers anymore! We are the over population in the world today and eventually Mother Nature will take care of us. Hopefully we won’t have completely ruined it for the few remaining creatures by then. No sympathy for this archaic individual or his tribe…

      • Loved everything you wrote about trophy hunters & the alternatives which would bring in tourist dollars.
        Thanks for having the bravery, the intelligence & the guts to say what the majority of us all believe. Hugs to you & yours x

      • Well said Judy . Idiots making excuses for flat out murder are gutter scum . People live in THEIR habitats not the other way round . as for the poacher , tough shit.

  3. Tasmanian Tiger
    Passenger Pigeon
    Great Auk
    Quagga
    Falkland Islands Wolf
    Zanzibar Leopard
    Caribbean Monk Seal
    Carolina Parakeet
    Atlas Bear
    Toolache Wallaby
    Sea Mink
    Bubal Hartebeest
    Steller’s Sea Cow

    How did hunting help these animals? They are all extinct due to humans hunting them. How does killing wolves, including pups in their dens benefit wolves? How does killing elephants and rhinos for a piece of their bodies to sell to China benefit them? Face it, Phil, Trophy hunters simply love to kill. They do not give a damn what they are doing to wildlife. Yours, sir, is the most irresponsible position I have ever heard.

    • People don’t realize the significance and benefits of trophy hunting.
      •It’s a conservation tool
      •The income it brings to the locality is significant. $50,000 is not unheard of per hunt.
      •The meat goes to feed the local community. You cannot bring the meat home.
      •It is illegal to hunt endangered species. That is poaching.
      •Lions and other big cats claim the lives of local people constantly. They cheer when these cats are culled from the area.
      •Cape Buffalo is also known as “Black Death” for a reason.
      •Elephants and Giraffes strip the land of edible food and starve.

      The list of benefits goes on. Think logically and not just with your heart.

      • Bollocks. Culling a herd is cruel, but if done properly the animals are not culled during the season when they have dependent offspring. Culling a herd is cruel, but when done properly, the old, sick, and feeble are the culls. Killing a lion in his prime, a lion who is strong and the leader of a pride is not conservation. Killing an innocent bull elephant because he has the longest tusks is not conservation. Killing a giraffe and pretending to do so under the guise of conservation fools nobody. Trophy hunters want trophies. They want the biggest, strongest, healthiest specimens so that the heads and pelts on the wall will prove what men they are. People KNOW that these hunters are using high-powered rifles, lures, guides who will skirt or ignore the rules, and every other aid they can in order to get a kill. As for the meat, I am sure the “locals” know how to hunt for meat. The bushmeat trade alone is frightening in terms of the not-so-distant extinction of pangolins and bonobos. There is no HUNTING going on. There is only murder. These trophy hunters are no better than the men who shot the Beothuck Indians of Newfoundland and caused them to become extinct. These trophy hunters, like Hemingway, use a set of antlers to try to prove what men they are. As for the Cape Buffalo, those animals have as much right to be on the planet as you do. And, if elephants strip an area of food, they move on to another area. That is nature. There is no argument that you can make that will convince those of us who find trophy hunting disgusting that there is even one benefit. Stay in your own yard, and quit murdering our fellow animals for sport. Real men pet kittens and rescue entangled whales. Real men don’t have to put up signs that say, “Look at this, I killed this.” Real men don’t need to murder lions and giraffes for sport. You are PATHETIC. If you are another hunter who is eaten by his prey or another of our fellow animals, I hope you think about this in your last moment of life.

  4. Karma! One less ars&@#le on the planet. And as for some of the comments here…. They completely beggar belief! FFS as if trophy hunting is a conservation tool.

Leave a Reply to Robert Bingel Cancel reply

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here