Mutant Animals Bred to be Brutally Killed by Hunters

Mother Nature could not have made wildlife any more perfect, creating lions with lush brown manes, tigers of a brilliant orange, zebras with their iconic black-and-white stripes, and all sorts of other animals with spectacular colors and patterns. However, astonishing new reports have revealed that some are taking it upon themselves to tamper with nature, breeding mutant animals just for the sake of having them brutally killed by hunters for sport.

Ranging from lions with pale blue eyes, white kudus, coffee-colored springboks, wildebeest with golden coats and black impalas, these exotic engineered animals are part of the latest craze in South Africa and its $1 billion elite big-game hunting industry.

Such unique animals are extremely rare in the wild, and so they are worth a lot of money to ranchers who are now breeding them especially for their unusual colors and appearance.

As part of a package with Africa Hunt Lodge, for example, a US-based tour operator, you can kill a golden gnu for nearly $50,000 - that's more than 100 times what a hunter would pay to take down a common gnu. Rich hunters are also charged $45,000 to shoot a black impala and $30,000 for a white lion. So while it may put a dent in your wallet, apparently killing abnormal, big game animals has no price limit.

"We breed them because they're different," Barry York, who owns a 2,500-acre ranch about 135 miles east of Johannesburg, told Bloomberg. "There'll always be a premium paid for highly-adapted, unique, rare animals."

What's more, companies like Africa Hunt Lodge make this "sport" seem like a first-class experience, offering a luxury lodge with gourmet food and even hunting permits.

"What we offer is not an average or budget minded African Safari... The majority of our Africa hunt packages are 7-10 days for 5-10 animals," the tour operator wrote on its website. (Scroll to read on...)