Ex-Green Party Councillor Revealed As Big Game Hunter Who’s Killed Zebras, Buffalos and Warthogs

(Images: SWNS)

A former Green councillor has defended his hobby - of big game hunting.

And Ben Wightman, 27, proudly posted trophy photos of himself next to animals he shot in South Africa.

The Facebook images show grinning Wightman with a rifle in his hand, beside two antelopes, a bloodied warthog, an ostrich, buffalo and zebra.

(Images: SWNS)

He reportedly has the heads of dead animals and other trophies on the walls of his home.

Wightman represented the Greens on Kirkburton Parish Council, near Huddersfield in West Yorkshire but lost his seat in May.

The party claimed to have the “strongest animal protection policies of any parliamentary political party in Britain”, in its pre-election campaign.

“We oppose all forms of hunting and will strengthen the Hunting Act”, boasts its Animal Manifesto.

Wightman made three hunting trips to South Africa – in 2008, 2011 and 2014 – and reckoned “It’s not about killing, it’s about conservation.”

He added: “It’s a holiday or part of a holiday. A group of us go together and have a good laugh and some beers. We are all passionate hunters and shooters.

“I don’t like the word ‘trophy’. It’s a memento. I have had the skin tanned and dressed to go down as a memory.

“Everything we eat while we are there is something we have shot. We can’t bring it back with us. I am a big bloke but even I couldn’t eat a whole zebra.”

Righto then.