Whilst
loading a recently killed buffalo into the back of his truck, veteran South
African hunter Claude Kleynhans was killed when another buffalo caught him by
surprise with a lethal charge.
The trophy
hunter had been stalking and killing the wildlife of South Africa for three
decades but after a long career one of his favourite targets put an end to his
exploits.
Kleynhans
was with a party hunting buffalo in Limpopo province when the incident
occurred. According to a local news source, The Bosveld Review, Claude and some
of his companions were loading their recent kill onto the back of their truck
when another buffalo from the same herd came charging in goring the hunter in
the groin.
The
buffalo’s horn severed Claude’s femoral artery, and he died shortly afterwards.
“They were
working on the bushes to open the animal and did not see the other buffalo,”
Karen Kuhne Kleynhans, the man’s sister-in-law, told the local
Afrikaans-language news outlet Maroela Media. “The buffalo struck him and
pronged him with its horn in his groin.”
“He loved
what he did,” she added. “He died doing what he loved.”
The Cape
buffalo, if threatened can be extremely aggressive, territorial and have been
known to fight off multiple lions in defence of their offspring or if they have
to protect the herd.
Kleynhans
hunted big game in the area for three decades, his company organised tours,
hunts and photography trips. The company, Guwela Safaris, offered acommodation
and food, on the menu was a list of many of the animals that a hunting party
would be shooting that day.
The company
had operated for years and claimed that they hunted in an ethical manner but
that didn’t stop many on social media calling him a poacher who deserved his
fate.
While Claude
certainly wasn’t a poacher, it’s clear that many disagree with big game
hunting.
Claude
Kleynhans, left behind a wife and three children.
Comments
Post a Comment