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 in 2022 alongside a smaller second elephant.[1] [2] [3]
Kachelhoffer justified his killing by stating that poachers may otherwise have targeted the elephant for its ivory, had he not shot the animal himself.[3]
When asked about the case, Dr. Dilys Roe of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) speculated 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 and kill the animals themselves".[4]