Leon Kachelhoffer is a Botswanan trophy hunter who caused an international outcry for killing a circa 45-year-old rare and well-known ' big tusker' elephant in

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label= Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalaha ...

in 2022 alongside a smaller second elephant. Kachelhoffer, who is working as a professional hunter within the African wildlife since 2002, was reportedly paid $50,000, of which a large portion went directly to the community in which the elephant was hunted, to kill the biggest elephant professionally hunted since 1996. The former Botswanan President

Ian Khama Seretse Khama Ian Khama (born 27 February 1953) is a Botswana politician and former military officer who was the fourth President of the Republic of Botswana from 1 April 2008 to 1 April 2018. After serving as Commander of the Botswana Defence ...

criticized that Kachelhoffer had killed ‘one of the largest if not the largest tusker in the country' that had furthermore been a 'tourist attraction for tour operators'. Kachelhoffer justified his killing by stating that

poachers Poaching has been defined as the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set a ...

may otherwise have targeted the elephant for its

ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals i ...

, had he not shot the animal himself. Kachelhoffer furthermore stated in podcasts that elephant hunting would raise awareness for animals among people that otherwise do not have attachment points with such species. When asked about the case, Dr. Dilys Roe of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) confirmed that paid elephant hunting could have a positive impact on wildlife, highlighting that "if nothing can be earned with wildlife, the local population would rather convert the hunting grounds into

agricultural land Agricultural land is typically land ''devoted to'' agriculture, the systematic and controlled use of other forms of lifeparticularly the rearing of livestock and production of cropsto produce food for humans. It is generally synonymous with ...

and kill the animals themselves".

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kachelhoffer, Leon Botswana sportspeople Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 2022 controversies 2022 in Botswana Hunters April 2022 events in Africa

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