A Highland-based big game hunter said last night he had “no regrets” about organising safaris for rich clients to shoot lions in Africa.
Peter Swales runs his business – International Big Game and Bird Hunting – from his home at Lower Altnaharry, Kiltarlity, near Beauly.
He said he would “never target endangered species” and condemned the recent illegal shooting of Cecil the lion in Zimbabwe by US dentist Walter Palmer.
Zimbabwe is seeking the extradition of the dentist and the country’s wildlife authorities have suspended the hunting of lions, leopards and elephants in an area favoured by hunters.
Scottish tourism chiefs have now come under fire for promoting Mr Swales’s business online and VisitScotland has removed his listing from its website pending further investigation.
Animal rights campaigners have called for VisitScotland to cut ties with Mr Swales amid the global outrage over the killing of Cecil.
Mr Swales organises trips to hunt game such as African antelope, and said that if a government granted a licence to shoot lions because there were too many in an area, he would “happily organise a hunt”.
A lion hunt costs an estimated £70,400 for a minimum 21-day trip including safari, local licence trophy fees and 30% payment to the local community – plus his cut of 10%.
Mr Swales said that in the past 15 years he had bagged two lions and either one or two elephants in total, the last being in the 1990s.
He added: “I have no regrets, no reservations about my profession and would happily organise a lion hunt.
“If you’re a meat eater you should be prepared to kill the animal that you eat. All the antelope meat goes into the food chain and that’s why they want us to do it.
“It’s alright for us to pontificate about what should and shouldn’t be shot, but think about the people who live there.
“Think about the income and food it gives them. And don’t think that lions don’t get eaten, some of them do.
“All the meat goes into the local communities and when you take it to them, way out in the bush, the whole village turn out and they sing your praises. They sing to us and it puts the hairs up on the back of your neck.”
Mr Swales has lived in the Highlands since 1972 and has organised shooting and stalking since 1976.
His business caters for deer stalking and bird shooting at home but now offers international big game and bird hunting from the most expensive five-star African safari to a management cull of plains game.
Yesterday he said he would not lose sleep about the current wave of public anger over game hunting, but revealed that his business had received a torrent of online abuse and threats.
He added: “We don’t shoot endangered species.
“I have absolutely nothing to do with Walter Palmer. I’ve not read about the case or watched anything on television about it.
“From what people have told me, I’d have said the guy is an idiot. I don’t understand how he got a connection to be able to do such a thing. And it’s given us a bad name.”
A VisitScotland spokeswoman said: “We will be removing this business from visitscotland.com pending further investigations.
“We consistently review visitscotland.com to ensure listings that have been uploaded by businesses meet legal requirements.
“We are happy at any time to discuss content on any of our digital platforms.”
A spokeswoman for UK-based animal protection charity OneKind said: “OneKind finds the practice of big game hunting abhorrent both by those who take part in it and those who promote these activities and gain financially from the unnecessary cruelty of killing a wild animal purely as a trophy.
“If any positives are to be gained from the controversial killing of Cecil the lion recently it’s the fact that this so-called sport has been brought so intensely under a worldwide spotlight.
“Those who freely promote canned hunting may not be so willing to do so now under such intense scrutiny and we are pleased VisitScotland is taking steps to investigate the appropriateness of promoting such activity.”
North Labour MSP Rhoda Grant said: “African countries seem to make a lot of money out of safaris to see the wildlife they have, which is absolutely fantastic.
“Comparing deer hunting and game hunting in Africa are comparing chalk and cheese. One is good animal husbandry and good for the environment. Killing lions is pretty offensive really.”