The buffalo that killed an American big game hunter was shot dead just seconds after goring the man to death.
Multi-millionaire Asher Watkins, 59, was out on safari with a professional hunter and an animal tracker on the trail of the bull last Sunday when the beast charged at him and killed him instantly with his horns.
The professional hunter guiding Watkins through the bush killed the buffalo with a single shot just seconds after the tragic incident.
The news of the of the buffalo’s death was greeted with dismay and sadness as thousands commented online that they prayed it had escaped and run to safety.
Bearded big game hunter Watkins dressed in camouflage lay dying close by.
The professional hunter from Coenraad Vermaak Safaris running the trophy hunt in Limpopo Province called for medical help but nothing could be done to save Watkins.
An emergency services source said: ‘He was beyond help except to load his body into the ambulance. He had horrific injuries to his stomach and to his ribs.
‘Buffalo kills are not rare in Limpopo and not many survive but when our guys got there it was clear he must have died instantly from the injuries he had suffered.
‘It was big buffalo and anything standing in the way of a charge would not survive. If left alone they are pretty tolerant but if you upset them it will not end well.
‘The buffalo lay dead where it was shot with a single bullet wound’ she said.
Businessman Watkins who had made his fortune selling upmarket Texan ranches valued between £1m and £30m travelled worldwide to shoot wild animals.
There are many photos on his Facebook page showing animals he has hunted and killed including a mountain lion, many types of deer, turkey shoots and wild fowl.
His ex-wife Courtney who posted news of Watkin’s death on her Facebook page was forced to take it down after it was deluged by trolls delighted the buffalo ‘won’.
Watkin’s own Facebook hunting page was also filled with sick posts describing his death from the buffalo as ‘karma’ and an AI meme with his head on a hunting shield.
Many were hoping the buffalo that killed him had managed to escape back to his herd but the professional hunter with him took it out with a single heart shot.
If the hunt had gone as normal the buffalo’s head and skin would have been taken by the hunting company and given to a taxidermist to prepare as a trophy.
Its vital organs are much sought after for culinary purposes and would have been sold and the less valuable flesh distributed to local villagers, a safari expert said.
An inquest has been opened into the death on Sunday and the three members of Watkins’ family who were with him on the expedition will fly his body back home.
He had flown to Johannesburg from Dallas with his mother and stepfather and brother.
On Sunday afternoon he began tracking a large buffalo said by hunting company CVS to be ‘unwounded and unprovoked’ on what was to be his final hunt.
The news of his death was broken to members of his immediate family in Dallas.
Watkins’ ex-wife Courtney who filed for divorce against the ranch real estate multi-millionaire from Texas is comforting their devastated daughter Savannah, 16.
They both shared custody of their daughter but she doted on her father and is said by friends to be ‘in bits’ and unable to accept he is not returning from the safari.
South African Police spokesman Colonel Malesala Ledwab said: ‘We were led on Sunday to a game farm where the body of a man killed by a buffalo was found.
‘He had serious injuries to his stomach and his side and had already been certified dead by a doctor with the ambulance and the buffalo was lying close to him.
‘The buffalo appeared to have been killed by a single bullet’ he said.
Buffalo make up one of the Big 5 of Africa’s most dangerous animals and kill more big game hunters than the other four of elephant, rhino, lion and leopard.
Known as the Black Death buffaloes kill more than 200 people in Africa a year.
Watkins would have paid tens of thousands of US dollars for the trip for his family to South Africa and would pay an extra fee per different type of animal he shot.
A prime male buffalo like the one that killed him averages at £7,500 each.
Hunter vans Vermaak on behalf of CVS confirmed the death of their client while stalking the buffalo along with a professional hunter and a skilled tracker.
Watkins was the boss of his own successful company Watkins Branch Group which sold exclusive ranches in Texas and surrounding states for up to £30m each.
The CVS website pulls no punches on its website in describing a buffalo hunt.
It warns: ‘No species on the planet has a more fearsome reputation than a Cape Buffalo. Responsible for several deaths and many injuries to hunters each year.
‘The buffalo is regarded as the most dangerous animal to pursue in Africa. Buffalo hunting is thrilling and exhilarating and at the top of every hunter’s wish list.
‘Crafty and belligerent, he seeks refuge in thickets when wounded or when danger approaches. Buffalo are known to charge unprovoked so prepare for the worst.
‘Buffalo have earned their reputation and can absorb astounding amounts of lead even when shots are well placed and a charging buffalo comes at an alarming speed.
‘Cool nerves and a steady hand are crucial’ said the company running his doomed trip.
A Cape Buffalo can weigh 1.5 tons and be 11 feet long and 5ft 6in tall and their horns are joined by a solid lump of bone across the forehead with its point tips can be 4ft apart.
They are unpredictable and aggressive and its only predators are humans and lions.
In 2018 big game hunter Claude Keynhams, 54, was also killed in Limpopo Province by a buffalo after the safari group he was being paid to guide shot another buffalo dead.
The South African professional hunter was trying to load the dead buffalo onto a lorry with his team when he was blindsided by a second buffalo who gored him to death.
In 2022 another big game hunter was killed at Steenbokpan, Limpopo Province, having shot and wounded a buffalo when it launched a furious charge at him despite being fired at.
Benjamin de Bruyn, 50, died instantly on the buffalo’s horns as the buffalo was killed.
The tragic death of the big game hunter comes after the death of Blondie the Lion in neighbouring Zimbabwe hit the headlines last week when another game hunter killed it.
In a chilling echo of the infamous killing of Cecil the Lion from the same region in 2015 the lion that had been collared by Oxford University scientists for research was targeted.
A Zimbabwe hunting company was said to have lured Blondie away from the safety of a non-hunting private reserve with meat as bait to draw him into a legal hunting concession.
Once Blondie crossed the border away from his pride of 3 lionesses and 10 cubs an American big game hunter was lying in wait and shot him dead to take home as a trophy.
Blondie’s killing was branded unethical although the Zimbabwe Professional Hunters Association refused to comment on it and the safari operator insisted the hunt was legal.