**Warning: the video in this article contains graphic images that you may find upsetting**
Footage captured the moment a herd of elephants charged towards a couple of hunters after they shot and killed one of their group.
The clip, which has resurfaced online, shows two hunters attempting to shoot and kill elephants in Namibia.
The two men can be seen taking aim at the animals, before one suggests: “Hit it between the eyes.”
Advert
The men take aim and fire, with at least one of the shots hitting an elephant bull, causing it to stumble to the ground.
After seeing their herd-mate hit, the elephants then charge towards the hunters.
Namibia-based big-game hunter, Corné Kruger, said the clip was originally filmed several years ago, but it has been doing the rounds on social media again this week.
Speaking to News24 back in 2018, Kurger said that hunting elephants in Namibia was a sensitive issue but stressed that it was ‘legal and sustainable’.
Advert
He said: "There is a small quota of elephants in the area and we only hunt two elephants a year."
Kruger also claimed that hunting was financially beneficial to the area and provided jobs for locals.
"We employ 12 people from the community, some of them as game guards,” he said.
"The funds go to conservation and fund anti-poaching units."
Advert
However, wildlife animal welfare and conservation charity Born Free have blasted so-called 'trophy hunting'.
Responding to the footage, Born Free’s President and Co-Founder, Will Travers, said: "To try and classify this kind of shameful violence as ‘sport’, or to claim it has anything to do with wildlife conservation, is completely without justification.
“Trophy hunting, the killing of wild animals for 'fun' by a small, wealthy elite, is increasingly rejected by the great majority of caring individuals.
"It deprives the world of some of its most iconic animals by a tiny number of people who have lost their moral compass.
“I fail to see any skill, courage, achievement, excitement, enjoyment or purpose in these activities, and the fact that predominantly wealthy westerners choose to spend their money in this way by killing innocent animals, and ruining the lives of countless more, profoundly saddens me.”
Advert
He added: “Trophy hunting is an outdated relic of a colonial-era obsession for killing wildlife for sport. It has no place in modern society, and certainly no role to play in any compassionate conservation programme.
“Wildlife managers need to recognise that every animal counts, and to find ways of funding conservation that do not involve more killing.
"If trophy hunters truly wished to support conservation they would put down the gun and join those of us working to find real, responsible and sustainable, compassionate solutions to our conservation challenges."
Featured Image Credit: YouTube / 2nachekiTopics: Animals