Kill A Rhino For Conservation: Man Pays $350K For Black Rhino Hunt

A man from Dallas, Texas bid to hunt down a black rhino in Namibia, The Guardian reports. The black rhino hunt was part of a conservation fundraiser according to an official from Dallas Safari Club.

Corey Knowlton shot a black rhino on Monday according to the club's executive director, Ben Carter as he won the bid in a 2014 auction sponsored by the club. The permit obtained targeted an old rhino bull located in Mangetti National Park.

Carter claimed that the money generated by the auction will help Namibia maintain the population of black rhinos. Specifically, the funds will go to the Namibia Ministry of Environment, which allowed the hunt as part of herd culling, he said.

According to CNN, which got invited to document the hunt, the giant mammal came charging towards Knowlton, the CNN camera crew and local rhino trackers. Reports said that Knowlton fired two shots with his high-powered rifle.

The third shot taken killed the large beast. Knowlton told CNN that he was “emotional” about the hunt. “I felt like from day one it was benefiting the black rhino, and I'll feel like that until the day that I die,” he said.

According to Knowlton, the old rhino bull was known to be a burden to the herd. He said that the black rhino can no longer reproduce and was threatening young rhinos of the herd. Knowlton also said that Namibia wanted a group of rhinos eradicated.

The Washington Post reports that the hunt received criticisms; state officials received letters of complaints why Knowlton was given permission to bring back the hunt trophy, while the hunter himself received death threats.

In the same report, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, or IUCN, said that killing rhinos as part of “well-managed trophy hunting” is justified and should not be confused with illegal poaching. “Well-managed trophy hunting has little to do with poaching, and indeed can be a key tool to help combat it,” said IUCN.

The WWF reports that black rhino population has seen a gradual increase due to conservation efforts. Still, the animals carry a “Critically Endangered” status due to poaching for horns, continually threatening rhinos’ small populations.

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