Trophy Hunter Shot Dead In South Africa

A prolific South African trophy hunter who regularly posed for photos with the bodies of the animals he killed has been shot dead himself. Riaan Naude was all too pleased with himself for murdering giraffes, lions, and elephants for fun, but it seems someone took an issue with it and decided to end his life as well.

  1. Naude was shot to death. It happened while he was near his car in the South African province of Limpopo, which hosts part of Kruger National Park. He was found by police on Monday “lying with his face up” and “blood on his head and face,” a police spokesperson said (via Vice).
  2. He founded a company that hosted trophy hunting trips. The 55-year-old was behind the group Pro Hunt Africa, a group that charges people to go on organized hunting trips to gun down big game animals for no other reason than “fun,” it would seem. This probably had something to do with his murder, but police have not yet made that statement definitively.
  3. It’s unclear exactly how his murder went down. Some local reports claim that Naude was shot to death shortly after stopping his car on the side of the road because it had overheated. It’s said that another car pulled up alongside him and two men got out and shot him from close range before stealing one of his guns and driving away. An investigation is currently underway. Police insist that there’s no suggestion his trophy hunting was behind his murder, but that seems a bit silly.
  4. Trophy hunting remains legal in South Africa. This is likely because it’s so lucrative, and people in power love money. In February, the South African government even increased the quotas on the number of endangered black rhinos, leopards, and elephants that could be killed by trophy hunters. It really does make you sick.

Jennifer has been the managing editor of Bolde since its launch in 2014. Before that, she was the founding editor of HelloGiggles and also worked as an entertainment writer for Bustle and Digital Spy. Her work has been published in Bon Appetit, Decider, Vanity Fair, The New York TImes, and many more.