The definition of cowardice is a ‘lack of courage to face danger, difficulty, opposition, pain.’
By that criterion, it’s hard to think of a more appropriate way to describe the actions of American trophy-hunter Guy Gorney in a shocking video that’s gone viral, showing him killing a lion.
It’s one of those clips that grows more horrendous and unconscionable the more you watch it.
Guy Gorney poses straddling a dead lion in a photograph on his Facebook page, wearing the same outfit he is videoed killing a lion in Zimbabwe in 2011
Gorney is seen in the Zimbabwe bush, in 2011, with a large rifle in his hands.
He’s wearing combat fatigues, yet what he does is as far removed from ‘combat’ as it’s possible to imagine.
In his sights, less than 50 metres away, is a sleeping male lion.
It’s lying peacefully on its back in the baking sunshine, blissfully oblivious to the hellish end to its life that is about to occur.
A second man, apparently some kind of guide, directs Gorney, in hushed tones, where to aim.
Gorney fires a bullet into the lion’s torso, causing its limbs to horribly retort upwards.
It roars in pain and bewilderment, and tries to get up.
But as it does so, Gorney fires again.
And then a third time.
The last thunderous shot sends the lion crashing dead to the ground.
The guide is breathlessly excited at what he’s witnessed, enthusiastically shaking Gorney’s hand, laughing, and patting him proudly on the back.
The hunter's Facebook page is filled with images of him posing with his kills - ranging from elephants and buffalo to crocodiles, hippo, rhinos, bear and deer
‘That, Mr Gorney,’ he gushes, ‘is a very nice lion! Well done! A very nice lion!’
They then both walk over to the victim and the guide prods the lion’s lifeless body with a gun before exclaiming to Gorney: ‘Very nice lion…beautiful.. that is an exceptional lion!’
Yes, it was.
So why did these two snivelling gutless b*astards have to kill it in such a cold-blooded merciless manner?
I felt physically sick watching the video, and I wasn’t alone.
To see such a magnificent beast lying fast asleep in its natural habitat as it was shot dead has reduced many who’ve seen it to tears of shock and anger.
But Gorney, a 64-year-old from Manhattan, Illinois, doesn’t give a damn what we think.
The scumbag’s Facebook page depicts him proudly posing with a dead lion.
He’s wearing the same clothing he wore in the infamous video clip, and it may be the same lion. That’s not clear, as he reportedly killed two on that trip.
But what IS clear is Gorney’s beaming smirk as he triumphantly straddles this lion’s back, having yanked its head up to face the camera.
That is the kind of ‘trophy’ that Gorney craves.
He travels the world trying to find more great animals to kill precisely so he can pose for this kind
