A Trophy Hunter Who Targeted Endangered Animals Was Killed ‘Execution Style’ By Two Men
Facebook/CanvaNaude’s Facebook and Instagram pages featured photos of him with customers and dead animals — and many, many negative reactions.
Riaan Naude was in charge of Pro Hunt Africa, a service that organized hunting trips for paying customers in South Africa.
Naude and his clients hunted endangered animals and then posed for photos with the dead creatures, which he later shared on Facebook.
Naude charged customers anywhere from $250 to $2,500 and beyond to go hunting for baboons, giraffes, crocodiles, and even lions and elephants. Needless to say, Riaan Naude earned quite the reputation — though it wasn’t necessarily a positive one.
Then, as Naude was about to go hunting one day, his car broke down.
Two men passing by in a white Nissan truck pulled up next to him and exited their vehicle — then shot Naude “in cold blood at close range,” stole one of the dead man’s guns, and drove off. Their motive was never made clear.
“The man was lying with his face up and there was blood on his head and face,” said Lieutenant Colonel Mamphaswa Seabi of the South African Police Service.
Trophy hunting is legal in South Africa, and the South African government recently increased the quota of endangered animals that hunters can kill, but that did little to garner sympathy for Naude online.
“Imagine being proud of killing beautiful, majestic and innocent animals,” one user wrote beneath one of Pro Hunt Africa’s Instagram photos. “What kind of sick human does that?”
