ONE of Australia’s leading TV presenters and journalists has reacted with fury after animal rights activists gloated over the death of a big-game hunter in Africa.
Garry Linnell, a co-presenter of the “The Breakfast Show” accused them of “breath taking hypocrisy” after the extremists flooded social media with “victory” comments celebrating the hunter’s death.
Father-of-five, Theunis Botha, 51, died tragically when a falling elephant crushed him in western Zimbabwe, Africa.
Shortly after the incident, social media users posted abusive comments on Facebook for his wife and children to see.
Mr Linnell said: “How ironic, really, that attempting to save animals sometimes exposes the worst of human traits.
“So pack up your outrage and your breathtaking hypocrisy. “Once again, you animal rights extremists have exposed your lack of human empathy.
“Little wonder you find comfort in the animal world. You’re a bloody embarrassment when it comes to your own species.”
The well-known journalist spoke out after Facebook users failed to show humanity towards the dead hunter.
Comments such as “Good job done by the elephant”, “You deserved it” and “The elephants should have crushed them all” appeared shortly after the tragedy.
Botha was a leading big-game hunter who was tragically killed after an elephant fell and crushed him after being shot early in May.
He had been taking tourists on legal hunts for over three decades and at the time of the accident was trying to protect his group from a wild elephant attack.
Mr Botha and his group accidentally walked into a group of breeding animals.
He will be remembered by many people as a dedicated hunter and a loving father and a husband.
Botha’s website features hundreds of photos of himself with happy clients.
