Carl Knight, 47, who lives in Johannesburg, allegedly made the claim in an email sales pitch, the Sunday Mirror newspaper reported.
The British owner of a trophy hunting business in South Africa has reportedly boasted there are plenty of animals to kill because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Take Aim Safaris boss is said to have offered a lion trophy for £14,500 and an elephant trophy for £10,000 in a message sent to 3,000 potential customers.
Knight, originally from Epsom, Surrey, said those animals and others including rhinos and crocodiles could be hunted in South Africa or Zimbabwe.
Married father-of-two Knight, who has posed with dead animals before, reportedly wrote: ‘Big elephant and trophy buffalo + hippo, croc are plentiful.
The areas are well-rested, the animal movement is fantastic. ‘I have a quota available on big cats: leopard and lion plus elephant bulls at unbeatable prices.’
Knight defended his business saying he had not broken any laws, he was helping animal conservation and providing jobs.
Knight claimed in South Africa there were ‘20,000,000 wild animals bred and conserved’ which he described as a ‘prolific’ number.
Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting founder Eduardo Gonclaves has called for Knight to have his British citizenship ‘stripped’ and accused him of ‘slaughtering’ threatened species.
