Absalom Shigwedha
9 October 2008
WHAT was probably the largest leopard in Namibia was shot because it was a 'problem animal', the professional hunter who led the hunt of the big cat said yesterday.
The 82-kilogram leopard was shot in the Khomas Hochland last month, and a photo of its lifeless body in an Afrikaans newspaper has sparked outrage.
The leopard, which was about 10 years old and 2,2 metres long, was ranked the eighth largest trophy of its species by Safari Club International, an international body of trophy hunters.
"It was a problem animal.
That's why we killed it," Gerard Erasmus of the game farm Sumsare Safaris claimed to The Namibian.
According to him, the leopard had killed over 50 calves in the area and was shot on the farm Gurub in the Khomas Hochland by an American hunter, Brad Smith.
Erasmus refused to disclose how much the American paid to kill the leopard.
Readers of The Namibian expressed their disgust at the killing of such a magnificent animal in SMS messages sent to the newspaper.
"What a sad photo of the biggest leopard in Namibia that has been killed by an American hunter.
Any person supporting this kind of 'pleasure' is not devoted to and proud of this country," reads one of the text messages.
"Only a depraved, sick man (women are rarely hunters) would find pleasure in murdering such a great cat," said another.
The Director for Parks and Wildlife Management in the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Ben Beytell, said the American hunter had a permit to kill the leopard.
"He (Smith) had everything in order," said Beytell, adding that Smith was accompanied by a professional hunter, which is one of the Ministry's requirements.
He said Namibia had a quota from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) to allow trophy hunters to shoot 150 endangered animals a year, including leopards.
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