American dentist Walter Palmer has been widely harangued this week following the killing of Cecil the African lion, but Irish people are not immune to the allure of hunting exotic animals according to one tour operator.
Richard Holmes runs Cape African Hunting, which charges up to $7,000 (€6358) for the opportunity to shoot "big game" South African wildlife.
Coupled with transport and storage expenses for prized parts of the carcasses, he said costs often run into the tens of thousands, but does not deter Irish visitors.
“Yes, we have had Irish people do our hunts before. Rich, poor, urban, rural- they come from all sorts of backgrounds.”
Irish tourists who choose to partake in Cape African Hunting packages are a relatively rare occurrence, but Mr Holmes claims to have maintained a loyal bank of Irish customers who have returned multiple times over the course of the business’ 40-year history.
He said the company does not offer the chance to hunt species such as lions and cheetahs due to their endangered status.
Instead, visitors must content themselves with targets such as wildebeest, impala and springbok, which are subject to periodic culls in South Africa.
He said killing animals trapped in enclosures “blackens” the name of what has become an increasingly popular pastime among largely affluent holidaymakers, but argued that the lion’s death will have “positive” consequences for tour operators through increased publicity and exposure.
“Thanks to Cecil, sadly, that’s probably what’s going to happen... The situation with Cecil is sad, and it sounds like all parties were guilty of misconduct. It’s both negative and positive- it will probably have zero net effect overall,” he said.
“It’s not a moral issue. We hunt surplus animals. It’s population control, it has to be done.”
John Mangan, who runs JMM Hunting in Kerry, said deer stalking remained popular in Ireland.
Mr Mangan, who is as a seasoned veteran within the domestic industry, said he does not know of anyone who goes to Africa for big game hunts anymore.
He said the practice of foreign hunting trips was more common when the economy was buoyant.
"There would have been a little bit of an appetite for that 15 years ago during the boom, but I wouldn't know of anybody now. You might get the odd person going to Germany for wild boar but that's about all," Mr Mangan said, who believes that Cecil's killing has been blown out of proportion.