North Texas Man Finally Shot the Damn Rhino (Video)

Corey Knowlton, the Royce City man who paid $350,000 for the right to kill a Namibian rhino at a January 2014 Dallas Safari Club auction, has bagged his rhino. As documented by CNN, Knowlton killed the rhino Monday. Presumably, he will now bring his trophy back to the Dallas area...

By Stephen Young

May 20, 2015

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Corey Knowlton, the Royce City man who paid $350,000 for the right to kill a Namibian rhino at a January 2014 Dallas Safari Club auction, has bagged his rhino.

As documented by CNN, Knowlton killed the rhino Monday. Presumably, he will now bring his trophy back to the Dallas area. Securing the right to do so has been the hardest part of the whole process for the hunter. He had to wait over a year, until the last week of March 2015, for permission from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to return from Africa with his spoils. Public comments to the agency were overwhelmingly against Knowlton's killing the rhino, and a Change.org petition to stop the hunt gathered more than 167,000 electronic signatures. The USFWS decided to grant the permit because the agency felt the money Knowlton paid to shoot the rhino would aid in conservation.

"The future of Africa's wildlife is threatened by poaching and illegal wildlife trade, not responsible, scientifically managed sport hunting," USFWS Service Director Dan Ashe said in a statement. "We remain committed to combating heinous wildlife crimes while supporting activities that empower and encourage local communities to be a part of the solution."

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