“Trophy-hunting isn’t about a handful of sick individuals – it is about a huge global industry which wields extraordinary power and manipulates governments.”

Trophy-hunters have killed one animal every three minutes, a book exposing the industry has revealed.

According to Trophy Leaks: Top Hunters And Industry Secrets, by Eduardo Goncalves, more than 1.7 million animals, including lions, elephants and endangered rhinos, have been slaughtered in the past decade.

In addition, the book reveals how a new trend called ‘Hogpocalypse Now’ which offers hunters the chance to shoot pigs from fast, low-flying helicopters is in great demand.

The bizarre activity is reportedly inspired by the 1979 film Apocalypse Now, in which a US soldier opens fire on defenceless Vietnamese citizens.

The explosive investigation also reveals how a top fundraiser for Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin’s right-hand man, the head of a paramilitary death-squad and a former WWF Director have shot record-breaking lions, elephants, rhinos and leopards.

The book goes on to disclose the identities of over 800 hunters who have won the ‘African Big 5’ prize, an industry award for killing at least one lion, elephant, leopard, a black or white rhino, and a buffalo.

It also exposes how the Boy Scouts and Salvation Army in the US are providing the industry a new generation of child hunters, and how the industry claims it pumps more money into US elections than some of the world’s biggest corporations.

‘Will look back aghast’

“Future generations will look back aghast at how we allowed the world’s most endangered species to be gunned down in their droves by adrenaline junkies in pursuit of grinning selfies and gruesome souvenirs,” Goncalves said.

“Trophy-hunting isn’t about a handful of sick individuals – it is about a huge global industry which wields extraordinary power and manipulates governments,” he said.

Gonçalves’ trilogy on trophy hunting

Trophy Leaks is Gonçalves’ third book on the trophy hunting industry this year.

His first book in the trilogy, Trophy Hunters Exposed: Inside the Big Game Industry, gave readers an inside view into this dark industry.

It detailed what’s on offer, and the industry’s marketing techniques while also naming the powerful industry lobby groups and the influential individuals that help the industry breach the existing laws of protecting threatened species from persecution.

In his second book Killing Game: The Extinction Industry, the award-winning author revealed how the industry, which pushes the conservation argument to justify its actions is actually putting some of the world’s most endangered species on a fast track to extinction.

Ban Trophy Hunting

Apart from the three books, Gonçalves founded the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting (CBTH) in 2018 and today it is supported by some of the world’s biggest celebrities including Leonardo DiCaprio and Joanna Lumley.

In 2019, CBTH persuaded the UK government to pledge a ban on imports of hunting trophies.

The organization is currently working with NGOs in a number of other countries including Africa to help them bring in bans on trophy hunting.

• Read: Spanish hunters kill 540 wild animals in ‘vile and unacceptable’ expedition

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Mohsina Dodhiya

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