News / International
Tourist sue travel agency, for failing to shoot elephants
15 Feb 2011 at 11:52hrs | Views
A Polish tourist to Zimbabwe lost his case against a specialist travel agency in a court in Poznan, western Poland. He claimed that the travel agency failed to lay on elephants for him to shoot on safari
Waldemar I. (name withheld under Polish privacy law), hired German-based firm Jaworski Jagreisen to arrange a shooting safari in Zimbabwe. When he got there, however, the plains of that part of Zimbabwe were elephant-free zones and he returned home empty handed.
Without a pair of tusks as a trophy, he decided to sue the travel company, claiming that he had not seen any elephants in the area.
However, the judge was not swayed by the plaintiff's plight.
"The fact that elephants were not encountered during the hunt does not testify that elephants were not there," the judge surmised, philosophically.
"It is not the case that hunters always finish their hunt in success," he added.
Waldemar I. will have to pay over 2400 zl (600 euros) in legal costs.
It is estimated that there are around 60,000 elephants in Zimbabwe and they can be hunted in controlled areas where herds are deemed too large. A ten-day safari can set back the hunting-and-shooting tourist up to 8,000 USD.
Waldemar I. (name withheld under Polish privacy law), hired German-based firm Jaworski Jagreisen to arrange a shooting safari in Zimbabwe. When he got there, however, the plains of that part of Zimbabwe were elephant-free zones and he returned home empty handed.
Without a pair of tusks as a trophy, he decided to sue the travel company, claiming that he had not seen any elephants in the area.
However, the judge was not swayed by the plaintiff's plight.
"The fact that elephants were not encountered during the hunt does not testify that elephants were not there," the judge surmised, philosophically.
"It is not the case that hunters always finish their hunt in success," he added.
Waldemar I. will have to pay over 2400 zl (600 euros) in legal costs.
It is estimated that there are around 60,000 elephants in Zimbabwe and they can be hunted in controlled areas where herds are deemed too large. A ten-day safari can set back the hunting-and-shooting tourist up to 8,000 USD.
Source - thenews
