![\"hunting](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/0_Robin-Hurt-left-with-client-in-Ethiopia.jpg\")
Robin Hurt with a client on hunting holiday in Ethiopia<\/p>\nRobin Hurt has helped trophy hunters kill a variety of majestic animals but defended his industry, calling it “one of the best ways to fund the conservation of wildlife”<\/p>\n
09:00, 28 Jun 2025Updated 10:05, 28 Jun 2025<\/p>\n
Robin Hurt with a client on hunting holiday in Ethiopia<\/p>\n
One of Britain\u2019s top trophy hunters has boasted about his bloodthirsty exploits helping clients to slaughter elephants,<\/a> leopards, hippos and lions.<\/p>\n Robin Hurt features on a list of the world<\/a>\u2019s most notorious hunters named in connection with a new book published next week to tie in with the 10th anniversary of the slaughter of Cecil the lion by American dentist Walter Palmer. His sickening brag is included in his autobiography where he also said: \u201cI thoroughly enjoy hunting leopards\u201d.<\/p>\n His exploits had been uncovered by Eduardo Goncalves, the founder of the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting, <\/a>who discovered Hurt shot his first leopard at the age of 12 and his first elephant at 17.<\/p>\n Author of “Mainlining on Heroin”, Eduardo Goncalves, said: \u201cRobin Hurt is more than just a trophy hunter, he is a symbol of an industry that has normalised killing animals for fun. His career spans the colonial era to the modern safari business, and yet the ethos remains the same \u2014 it\u2019s about domination and death, dressed up as tradition and sport. This is not conservation. It is cruelty with a price tag.\u201d<\/p>\n Robin, now 80, dubbed \u2018the hunter\u2019s hunter\u2019, was born in London but moved to Windhoek, Namibia to be closer to the animals he arranges hunts for.<\/p>\n His firm – Robin Hurt Safaris – is ranked 11th in Safari Club International\u2019s Record Book \u2014 a grotesque leaderboard of death \u2014 after helping hunters kill at least 37 record-breaking leopards, 16 hippos, 14 lions, three elephants, and countless antelope, hyenas and other species. One leopard killed under Hurt\u2019s guidance is currently ranked as the 14th largest ever recorded. Some animals, including a white-eared kob and a tiang, were reportedly shot using revolvers.<\/p>\n His autobiography, A Hunter\u2019s Hunter, published in 2020, reveals that he has shot with clients \u201c100-pound tuskers (elephants), 200-pound leopards, 10-foot lions with heavy manes, and 30-inch-plus rhinos.\u201d According to the publishers, Safari Press, \u201cRobin\u2019s record is an unsurpassed accomplishment in the history of African hunting.\u201d<\/p>\n In the sickening autobiography, he also tells the story of how a dead elephant provided bait for an unsuspecting lion.<\/p>\n He wrote: \u201cWe took off after the jumbo. Bob took a side brain shot, perfectly placed. The old boy never felt a thing. Now. Lion like elephant meat! We had a readymade bait!\u201d<\/p>\n Eduardo Gonclaves explains the elephant is skinned, and its meat dragged along the ground to a place where lions often hunt. Robin Hurt continues [in his autobiography]: “A big heavy maned lion! There was a convenient ant hill offering perfect cover for a stalk. The possibility of the Big Five[the five most challenging and dangerous animals to hunt on foot in Africa: the lion, leopard, elephant, rhinoceros, and African buffalo], all in one day!\u201d<\/p>\n Investigators for the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting also contacted Hurt to ask whether it would be possible to hunt leopards and cheetahs.<\/p>\n \u201cCheetah, unlike leopard, can\u2019t be baited,\u201d he wrote in an email. \u201cSo it\u2019s purely a matter of luck getting a chance at one. Having said that, when hunting we are always on the look out for tracks.\u201d<\/p>\n Cheetahs are Africa\u2019s most endangered big cat, with only 6,500 individuals left according to IUCN, the global conservation body.<\/p>\n In response to hunting a leopard, he wrote \u201cWe could do next year if that works for you. We hunt them by baiting.<\/p>\n “We have a very healthy population of leopard in our area, and some particularly large males.\u201d<\/p>\n Hurt said he had a plethora of other animals that the investigators could come and shoot.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have large amounts of plains game here. In particular we have superb Kudu, Oryx, Red Hartebeest, Blue and Black Wildebeest, Hartmanns and Burchells Zebra, Warthog, Jackals, Klipspringer, Steenbuck, Brown Hyena, Caracal (very difficult to hunt – again by chance).<\/p>\n \u201cFor Sable Antelope, Roan Antelope , Blesbok and Eland we hunt on a nearby neighbors (sic) territory.\u201d<\/p>\n In a telephone call to investigators, speaking with a crisp cut-glass, upper-class English accent, he said: \u201cI love it here.<\/p>\n \u201cI thoroughly enjoy hunting leopards. We\u2019re not allowed to live bait. We have to put like a zebra leg as a bait.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we\u2019re patient, you\u2019ll get a good shot. We\u2019ve got some very big males in our area.\u201d<\/p>\n He suggested that the investigators bring their spouses along. \u201cThey\u2019ll love it. We\u2019ve got lots to do apart from hunting.\u201d He also boasted of having lots of wealthy clients before complaining about efforts to ban hunting trophies in the UK. He blamed Carrie Johnson<\/a>, wife of former PM Boris Johnson<\/a>, for driving the legislation. \u201cShe\u2019s a real anti. She just wants to kill the hunting industry.\u201d<\/p>\n But he warned that the investigators should come and hunt as soon as possible because of a looming UK Government ban on hunting trophies.<\/p>\n \u201cI think things are about to change. I know there\u2019s big discussions going on and I don\u2019t know when the new regulations will come in \u2013 it will probably take a bit of time. But you\u2019re smart to come hunting now because I believe in a couple of years\u2019 time it\u2019s going to be very, very difficult to take trophies back to UK.\u201d<\/p>\n TV presenter Chris Packham, who has written the forward to “Mainlining on Heroin\u201d, said: \u201cWe call ourselves a nation of animal-lovers.<\/p>\n “Well, let’s prove it. Let\u2019s help put an end to one of the most disgraceful forms of wildlife persecution in existence. Let\u2019s ban British hunters from bringing their trophies home.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s time to act. So if you love nature documentaries on TV, or The Lion King floats your musical boat, or if you grew up watching Disney\u2019s Dumbo – can I please ask you to ask your MP to get on with the job of banishing trophy hunting to the dustbin of history.\u201c<\/p>\n Robin Hurt said that \u201csafari hunting is one of the best ways to fund the conservation of wildlife and wilderness habitat outside of protected areas\u201d, and said that he offers a combination of legal licenced hunting and photography safaris on the land he manages.<\/p>\n \u201cTake legal hunters, who are wildlife managers, out of the bush and they will immediately be replaced by poachers bent on quick financial returns.\u201d<\/p>\n He also said that Namibia has CITES permits allocated for leopard and cheetah. He admitted to shooting his first leopard at 12 as it \u201chad been killing my grandmother\u2019s sheep\u201d and said the elephant \u201cwas a problem animal on Kenya\u2019s Ziwani Sisal estate.\u201d<\/p>\n In reference to the UK introducing a ban on imports, Hurt said it \u201cwould be seriously damaging to humans that depend on and steward wildlife, let alone wildlife populations.\u201d<\/p>\n He also said that the Robin Hurt Wildlife Foundation has funded numerous schools, churches, water pipelines and other community projects, as well as caring for 14 rhinos funded by \u201cthe legal use of common plains hunting\u201d.<\/p>\n Hunt denied shooting the elephant for bait, saying it was “legally shot by my client” but not to lure a lion.<\/p>\n He also said he is now semi-retired and why he “may be a hunter” he is also a dedicated conservationist. “My livelihood depends on healthy and increasing wildlife numbers. There is very little difference between myself and a rancher, except I prefer to manage wild animals whereas a rancher manages domestic livestock,” he said.<\/p>\n It comes after Priscilla Presley<\/a> has launched a blistering attack on the trophy hunting industry, calling it a \u201csickness\u201d that must be brought to an end.<\/p>\n The actress and animal rights advocate, who famously married Elvis Presley<\/a>, also backed the Mirror<\/a>\u2019s campaign to ban trophy hunting imports into the UK.<\/p>\n Priscilla, 80, said: \u201cTen years ago, the world learnt about the horrifying killing of Cecil the lion by an American dentist, Walter Palmer. Today it is going to learn about the terrifying scale of killing \u2013 even of endangered animals \u2013 that continues with the tacit blessing of governments and official bodies.<\/p>\n \u201cPolicymakers have had 10 years since Cecil was killed to act. Now they have no more excuses. The facts about this evil \u2018sport\u2019 are laid out as plainly as could be\u201d.<\/p>\n Conservationist Jane Goodall added \u201cthe days of the great White Hunter should be brought to a close\u201d.<\/p>\n She said: \u201cIf there were no industry, there would be no Walter Palmers. And Cecil would have lived out his life in peace, as he should have been able to do.<\/p>\n \u201cToday’s trophy hunting industry is a multi-million dollar business that is making a killing \u2013 literally – from the suffering and death of magnificent and often endangered animals. If we want to end trophy hunting \u2013 which we must \u2013 we should think about this vast industry.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Robin Hurt has helped trophy hunters kill a variety of majestic animals but defended his industry, calling it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":227033,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3847],"tags":[933,62457,10670,89432,285,39143,19255,70,16,15,1717],"class_list":{"0":"post-227032","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-animals","9":"tag-chris-packham","10":"tag-elephants","11":"tag-end-trophy-hunting-imports","12":"tag-politics","13":"tag-priscilla-presley","14":"tag-rhinos","15":"tag-science","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom","18":"tag-wildlife"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114773239251968845","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"leopard](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/0_Pawsome-pops-celebrates-Fathers-Day-by-welcoming-third-set-of-rare-leopard-cubs.jpg\")
Leopards are British hunters\u2019 3rd most popular animal among species for which records are kept(Image: Jam Press\/Yorkshire Zoo)<\/p>\n![\"headshot](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/0_1680703996702jpeg.jpg\")
Wildlife Conservationist & Founder of the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting, Eduardo Gonvalves<\/p>\n![\"Priscilla](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/1_Priscilla-1.jpg\")
Priscilla Presley has launched a blistering attack on the trophy hunting industry<\/p>\n