Devastating news have shocked elephant lovers all over the world: Voortrekker, the unique dominating desert elephant bull in the Ugab region was shot in his prime. He was famously loved and admired world-wide.

What the responsible Ministry of Environment and Tourism of Namibia (MET) has to say about this: "The elephant was shot in Omatjete area after it was declared a problem causing animal. To generate funds for the affected communities we had the elephant hunted as a trophy. (....) We make decisions based on what is good for our conservation based on the existing principles, policies and legislation. It's unfortunate that the elephant was put down but we were left with no other alternative after this specific animal continued to cause damages to property in the area. Only one elephant was hunted and not four as was or is speculated."

This is complete and utter nonsense! To kill the last dominant bull in the region is pure destructiveness ("in the interest of conservation"?????). And of course Voortrekker was never "causing problems". And had he been causing problems, lots of people would have been there in an instant to escort him elsewhere and create a peaceful solution. This did not happen.

So Voortrekker was falsely made out to be a problem animal and then hunted as a trophy. This approach had been tried before. Unfortunately this time they acted so fast and furtive that no one seems to have known.

What a heartbreaking loss for our planet. RIP beautiful Voortrekker.