26 August 2024 , 21:29
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Cameron Hopkins shamelessly posted images of the three dead big cats despite there being just 7,000 of the animals left in the African wild - and campaigners have responded calling for an ’immediate ban’
Campaigners are pleading for an immediate ban on trophy hunting after a notorious shooter gloried in his slaughter of three cheetah cubs.
Cameron Hopkins shamelessly posted images of the dead big cats despite there being just 7,000 of the animals left in the African wild. The US ammunition maker boasted: “My name is Cameron Hopkins and I proudly killed three cheetah cubs… I’d do it again under the same circumstances. Hunters who obscure their faces are moral cowards. To prove my pride in my African hunting, I’m posting the trophies I shot as varmints in Namibia. All three are cubs, about one-year-old.
“Yes, you sniveling [sic] grovelers, look at a prideful hunter who celebrates some great shooting and doing a valuable service for Jamie Traut at Eden.” He mocked those shocked by his actions as “Bambi huggers”.
Actor Ricky Gervais, who backs the Mirror’s campaign to ban trophy imports into the UK, said: “What a complete and utter psychopath. He’s actually celebrating the fact that he killed cheetah cubs and had them skinned to make rugs. We’ve got to put a stop to trophy hunting, now.”
Describing the hunt in Namibia, southern Africa, Hopkins added: “A mother with five cubs crawled under the perimeter fence and began killing four or five springboks to teach her cubs to hunt. I shot two just seconds apart, one squatting and the second all full gallop. We caught another at a water hole and I shot that out of the back of our truck. Another hunter shot one, so we killed four out of five cubs.”
He went on: “My only regret is I couldn’t export any of the skins so Jamie made rugs out of them for the lodge. I hope some PETA [People for The Ethical Treatment of Animals] pussy tries to boycott my business.
Eduardo Gonçalves of the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting
“If you want confrontation, bring your best arguments because I’ll explain sustainable hunting as the best conservation tool.” When questioned by the Mirror, the former editor-in-chief of shooting magazine American Handgunner said: “There’s a difference between sport hunting and invasive predator control. The cheetah were invasive predators killing game on private property.”
As to why he hunted Africa’s big five animals, an elephant, rhino, lion, leopard and cape buffalo on a single safari, Hopkins said: “There is added appeal to hunting dangerous game.” Unlike the US, Britain lets hunters bring home their kill to put on display.
Eduardo Goncalves, of the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting, added: “Britain should hang its head in shame. It has some of the laxest laws in the world on this. This government promised in its manifesto it would ban hunting trophies. Now it’s refusing to tell MPs when it will.”