Austrian holiday agencies ‘offer canned hunt trips’

Animal activists have claimed Austrian holiday agencies offer controversial canned hunting trips to South Africa.Thomas Pietsch of animal protection NGO Vier Pfoten said today (Thurs): “We know that at least 15 Austrian trip organisers offer such journeys.”The term “canned hunt” describes a trophy hunt event in which animals are kept in a fenced area to get shot. Animal activists across the world have criticised the hunts for decades as “cruel and brutal”.Pietsch said: “Tourists pay between 7,000 and 45,000 Euros to shoot a lion.”South African Environmental Affairs Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk recently presented plans to prohibit canned hunting. The minister said he was “sickened by wealthy tourists shooting tame lions from the back of a truck”.Austrian holiday companies reportedly offer trips to Johannesburg featuring a canned hunt outing for 14,300 Euros.Now activists fear many tourists heading to South Africa for the Football World Cup this summer will also take the opportunity to take part in a canned hunt.