A man from Texas was killed in South Africa by a Cape Buffalo when hunting them in early August. 

Asher Watkins is a Texan real estate agent that enjoyed to spend his free time trophy hunting around the world. Watkins has made up millions of dollars from selling large properties across Texas, Colorado, and Arkansas. He has killed many animals such as elk and mountain lions in North America. Prior to the incident he has used the same safari company for hunting in the past. 

The African Cape Buffalo is a massive animal with bulls weighing up to 2000lbs and 5ft 6in high at the shoulder. They are herbivores and tend to eat mostly grasses from the plains that they inhabit. These large animals have razor sharp horns on the tops of their heads that are their primary defence. Many people underestimate the dangers of these large animals because they do not look too threatening but to give some perspective, lions tend to avoid hunting these species because they are too large and powerful. This includes the calves because they will likely be defended by the parents. In Zimbabwe’s Kruger National Park there is a herd that is known to be over 2000 individuals. The average herd spans from 50 to 500. During the wet season, when food is more plentiful, herds will grow in size but during the dry season, because of a lack of resources, they fluctuate to smaller numbers. 

Watkins and the safari group were doing a routine hunt for the group and were following after a bull african cape buffalo and were preparing to kill it. Out of nowhere the animal turned around and charged at Watkins, unfortunately ending his life. The safari group says that everyone else in the travel team were too startled to do anything in time and say that they had not yet harmed or shot at the animal. 

Many people say that the animal felt threatened because it was likely feeling trapped by the cornering attempt for hunting. The african cape buffalo is known to be one of the most dangerous animals on the African savannah, up there with the hippopotamus and the Nile crocodile. This incident has sparked controversy with many people siding with the buffalo and a large call against big game hunting because of its dangers towards people and many endangered animal species, not like the cape buffalo, that are harmed by it every year.