A Texas hunting club has announced it is aiming to raise up to a million dollars for endangered black rhinoceroses - by auctioning off a permit to kill one in Namibia.
"First and foremost, this is about saving the black rhino," said Ben Carter, executive director of the Dallas Safari Club, which is hosting the auction early next year.
The logic backing the argument that the hunters love Rhino's so much that they are in a bidding war to kill one, has, unsurprisingly, left people flabbergasted.
The Humane Society of the United States described the news of the auction as "disturbing" and vowed to campaign against the issuance of a US permit to return the trophy.
"The world is seeing a concerted effort to preserve the very few black rhinos and other rhinos who are dodging poachers' bullets and habitat destruction," said Wayne Pacelle, president of the HSUS to AFP.
"The last thing they need are wealthy elites from foreign lands coming in to kill them for their heads."
He also questioned the ethics of wealthy, competitive trophy hunters who say they want to kill an animal in the name of conservation.
"Shooting a black rhino in the wild is about as difficult as shooting a parked car," he said.
"If these are multimillionaires and they want to help rhinos, they can give their money to help rhinos. They don't need to accompany their cash transfer with a high caliber bullet," he said.
Black rhinos are internationally considered an endangered species and the World Wildlife Fund says about 4,800 are alive in the African wild.