An African hunter who claims to have killed more than 5,000 elephants says he is 'totally unrepentant' about the deaths he has caused.
Ron Thomson, 77, who worked in Africa's national parks for almost six decades, claims he was not hunting the animals for pure sport but was managing population that would otherwise have got out of control.
However, animal rights campaigners point out that elephant numbers are in steep decline and say 'management culling' is often used as a cover for trophy hunting.
Ron Thomson, 77, says he is 'totally unrepentant' after killing more than 5,000 elephants during a nearly six decade career working in Africa's national parks
Mr Thomson, from Zimbabwe, was forced to defend his record after a report by the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting branded him one of the world's most prolific elephant killers.
On his website, Mr Thomson also claims to have killed 800 buffalo, 60 lions, 50 hippos and 40 leopards.
That total does not include kills he made while leading a culling team that shot 2,500 elephants and 300 hippos in Gonarezhou National Park in the 1970s.
Speaking to The Independent, he said: 'I'm totally unrepentant, a hundred – ten thousand – times over for any of the hunting I've done because that's not the problem.
'The problem is we've got a bunch of so-called experts from the West telling us what to do. I'm a trained university ecologist – I must surely know something about this.'
During his career he has held posts
