Reward Offered to Help Nab Jumbo Elephant’s Killer

PETA Germany Wants Help Identifying Anonymous German Hunter Who Gunned Down Elephant Just Months After Cecil the Lion’s Slaughter

For Immediate Release:
October 16, 2015

Contact:
Lakisha Ridley 202-483-7382

On October 8, an unidentified German man on a hunting trip to Zimbabwe reportedly gunned down an elephant believed to be the largest killed in Africa in almost 30 years. PETA Germany wants the man’s hunting license to be revoked—but first, he must be identified. That’s why today, PETA Germany announced a reward of €1,000 (approximately US$1,100) for confirmation of the hunter’s identity.

The reward comes in the wake of the global outrage sparked by Walter Palmer’s similar trophy hunt in Zimbabwe, during which the Minnesota dentist shot Cecil the lion with a high-powered crossbow and left him to suffer with a steel arrow through his body for more than 40 hours.

“Time’s about up for trophy hunters, and the world wants to know exactly who this cowardly man is who’s in hiding after gunning down a magnificent elephant—who, like Cecil, wanted only to be left in peace,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA urges anyone with information about this man’s identity to come forward so that he can face the consequences of killing and hacking apart an animal to feed his psychotic need to take a life.”

After Cecil the lion’s death, PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—called on the U.S. government to ban hunting “trophies,” such as the 120-pound elephant tusks that the German hunter reportedly collected from the elephant’s body. PETA Germany has made a similar appeal to German authorities.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.