Social media users have condemned the callousness shown by a group of big-game hunters who high fived each other after shooting a lion at point-blank range.
The video - which has gone viral on Twitter, and allegedly stems from Africa - shows a group of men with guns hunt the male lion, which is shot at close range, and killed instantly in the savannah. The group, armed with high-powered rifles, then crowd round the dead animal, and begin congratulating each other on the successful kill.
Watch the disturbing footage of the hunters below:
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The video was first shared by animal rights activist and anti-hunting campaigner Carrie Symonds - the girlfriend of British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, who took to Twitter to share her outrage over the display of animal cruelty.
She wrote: "Sorry to share such a distressing video on #WorldLionDay. There can be zero excuse or justification for such cruelty. There are thought to be just 20,000 lions now left in the wild. We must do better. [sic]"
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She added: "Can you imagine the hunters below fighting these majestic beasts without needing to hide behind a rock and without needing to use a massive gun?"
Many Twitter users commented on the appalling footage. For instance, one person wrote: "What’s the point of killing a lion? I never understood how one can take pleasure in harming or killing animals just for the fun of it. These people are sick."
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According to British tabloid newspaper, the Daily Mirror, who interviewed an ex-gamekeeper that sold expensive safari trips to rich tourists and hunters, operations such as the one featured in the above video are a highly-lucrative enterprise, which exploit a range of African species.
In another show of animal cruelty, these men smashed a cake into a lion's face...
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Animals killed by game hunters and illegal poachers routinely include baboons, giraffes, elephants and monkeys, many of which are critically endangered or otherwise at risk of extinction.