Hobby hunters hunted people in the Bosnian War

While Sarajevo still bears the scars of the siege, new investigations from Italy are now shaking the self-image of a scene that all too willingly portrays itself as a guardian of tradition and nature.

Editorial team Wild beim Wild — 14 November 2025

The suspicion that during the 1990s foreign hobby hunters — many from the milieu of those “killers” who otherwise travel to Africa or Eastern Europe to be photographed in front of animal carcasses — paid money to shoot at civilians is a slap in the face of any society that wishes to call itself civilised.

It is the ultimate consequence of a culture that glorifies killing as a leisure activity.

In the years 1993 and 1994, a total of hundreds of wealthy foreign hobby hunters, who had grown tired of shooting only deer, roe deer and wild boar, are alleged to have paid between 80’000 and 100’000 euros for the chance to also kill a human being. The hobby hunters are also said to have paid to hunt children.

For even if worlds lie between war crimes and the hunting of wildlife, the underlying psychological disposition is alarmingly similar: the view through the telescopic sight transforms everything that lives into an object. Into a target. Into a hit. It is precisely this mindset that makes it possible for people who otherwise enjoy speaking of stewardship, tradition and sustainability to suddenly find themselves on a moral plane barely distinguishable from an abyss.

As regards the organisation, the report suggests that the groups consisted of hunters. It can therefore be assumed that the organisation of the “safaris” was most likely taken over by agencies that habitually arranged hunting trips to the usual destinations — Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, etc. — to hunt large game such as deer and wild boar. – Rai News

For years, hobby hunters have insisted that their activity has nothing to do with a pleasure in killing. Yet reality tells a different story. It is no coincidence that the very circles in which trophies hang above the fireplace and masculinity is believed to be proven through the recoil of a rifle are now associated with grave accusations. Those who spend their weekends shooting animals for the satisfaction of feeling superior should not be surprised when the question eventually arises of how far this devaluation of life extends.

The investigations out of Milan suggest that some were apparently prepared to go one step further: from wild animal to human being. And even if only a fraction of the accusations prove true, this already reveals what dangerous fantasies are fermenting in parts of the scene. A culture that romanticizes killing need not be surprised when some of its followers eventually lose their moral compass entirely.

These are passionate hunters who hoped to gain an additional adrenaline rush from a human trophy. – Edlin Subašić, former agent of the Bosnian intelligence service

What may have occurred in Sarajevo is no accidental slip by a fringe group. It is the final stage of a mindset that measures, evaluates, and hierarchizes life and derives from this the right to decide over death and survival. This very fallacy has permeated hobby hunting for decades. One convinces oneself of acting in the interest of nature, while in truth making nature the stage for one’s own desire for recognition.

The siege of Sarajevo was a war crime. But the current debate makes clear: when a society makes killing a legitimate leisure activity, it takes only the right context for the unthinkable to become possible. And that is the starkest warning to all those who continue to romanticize hobby hunting as a harmless pastime: those who make life a target will eventually lose the capacity to respect life — regardless of whether it walks on four legs or two.

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