The head of the National Rifle Association and his wife are under fire after a video resurfaced on social media Tuesday of the two shooting and killing two endangered elephants while in Botswana in 2013.

"Savannah elephants were just declared endangered by international experts, and these intelligent beings certainly shouldn’t be used as paper targets by an inept marksman," Tanya Sanerib, international legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement per USA Today.

The New Yorker and the Trace obtained a copy of the ten-minute video that showed Wayne and Susan LaPierre shooting and injuring the first Savannah elephant their guide’s tracked for them. While attempting to kill the animal at point-blank range after it fell to the ground, LaPierre failed and another guide ended up killing it.

As for the second elephant, guides are shown assisting Susan LaPierre as she kills it and cuts off the tail, showing it off to the camera.

"Victory," she said. "That’s my elephant tail. Way cool."

"It’s sickening to see LaPierre’s brutal, clumsy slaughter of this beautiful creature. No animal should suffer like this. We’re in the midst of a poaching epidemic, and rich trophy hunters like the NRA chief are blasting away at elephants while the international community calls for stiffer penalties for poachers – what message does that send?" Sanerib said.

The chief executive of the NRA has held his position since 1991 and the organization has over 5 million members.

A bull elephant living in the wild will soon be a common sight at a North Florida refuge.
Tolstoy the bull elephant has survived many threats. But can he survive Europe's craving for avocados? AFP / Yasuyoshi CHIBA
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