When it comes to social derision, big game hunters are right up there with paedophiles and traffic wardens. There are few things that have the potential to ruin one’s life quite as effectively as a picture of you, rifle in hand, standing next to a dead elephant. Those who can afford to go to Africa to hunt “big game” now tend to agree that the first rule of trophy hunting is no photos.

It was not surprising when the death, last week, of Asher Watkins, a big game hunter from Texas , was cheered on social media by those who would self-identify as progressive and kind.

Mr Watkins, a Texas rancher was gored to death by a Cape buffalo while hunting in South Africa. Over on the socials, thoughtful animal lovers have weighed with hopes that it “was slow and agonising”; somebody identifying as

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