Story By: Gheorghi Caraseni, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
A Ukrainian parliamentarian has come under fire after pictures were published online showing him with trophy animals including a rhino and a leopard he shot while on safari in Africa.
The pictures show 53-year-old Ukrainian politician Nestor Shufrych posing together with his trophies which he claims were legally shot on a licensed hunt.
In one of the pictures he is seen posing next to a black rhino (Diceros bicornis), and in another he is holding up the limp form of a leopard (Panthera pardus), which although it appears to have its eyes open, is also dead.
And in the third image, he is shown standing next to what appears to be a huge brown hyena (Hyaena brunnea).
The images were published online by the Tigrenlion movement, an organisation that targets wealthy or powerful people who shoot rare animals on the African subcontinent. These particular images were posted on africatrophyhunting.com.
A spokesman identified only as Julien from Tigrenlion told Central European News (CEN) that the pictures were shot in 2015 but have only come to light now during research into campaigning for there to be banned on such hunts.
The brown hyena (Hyaena brunnea) is the rarest of the hyena species and is found in Namibia, Botswana, western and southern Zimbabwe, southern Mozambique and South Africa.
The leopard (Panthera pardus), which is found mostly in sub-Saharan Africa and in small parts of Western and Central Asia is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, with numbers decreasing because of habitat loss and fragmentation, as well as illegal hunting.
And the black rhinoceros, which is native to eastern and southern Africa and which is, in fact, more grey than black, is also listed as vulnerable again because of loss of habitat and poaching.
The spokesman added that there was no justification for the shooting of such rare animals, and the pictures have attracted widespread criticism of the politician.
Shufrych’s press service later reported that the images were genuine but very old saying: “The scenes from the photos took place in July 2013 and the hunt was held with the permission provided by the authorised officials of the national government.”
They added that in one of the images, the animal pictured was a male of non-reproductive age that had been identified by local officials as aggressive and which had been authorised for killing. The spokesman did not say which of the three pictures the statement referred to.
However, Julien said: “It is ludicrous to suggest that the hunters went there specifically to search for a given animal, it’s very difficult to actually know you have the right animal when on a hunt as you can often not even tell the difference between males and females – especially with animals like leopards. Although in reality, all a hunter wants is to make sure they get something big.”
Online commentator ‘den_kazansky’ wrote: “Shufrych turned out to be scum.”
While ‘daniel_poirot’ added: “All of the representatives of the ‘ruSSian world’ are sick. Shufrych here once again showing off.”
Shufrych is a Ukrainian politician and parliamentarian. He has also been the country’s Archery Federation president since 2010.
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