A man who ditched his career as a doctor when he found out the "humiliating" salary is now offering wealthy tourists sick 'packages' to kill wild animals of their choice.

George Ragozin, dubbed the 'crazy Russian', offers trophy-seeking foreigners the chance to go on a safari and slaughter a range of beasts from elephants to lions.

Included in the shocking 'packages' - which cost up to £421,000 - is accommodation, food, beer and wine, plus a daily “washing service”.

Prices start at $5,000 USD (£3,830) for a 10-day safari that includes hunting wildebeest and zebra, $21,000 (£16,090) for a male and female lion, and $34,000 (£26,050) for a fortnight of “leopard baiting”.

He's nicknamed the 'crazy Russian' (
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east2west news)
George Ragozin during a safari with one of the 'trophies' (
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east2west news)

More expensive packages are $55,000 (£42,150) for five days hunting white rhino or a 12-day elephant shoot.

The father-of-three also offers a seven-day trip to stalk and kill a black rhinoceros, a critically endangered species, for $550,000 (£421,300).

The costs do not include chartering aircraft, firearms and ammunition, nor the shipping of trophies and tipping his staff.

Despite this, he claims his trips are fully booked until 2020.

Ragozin insists his hunting expeditions in South Africa - where he is based - along with safaris in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Burkina Faso and Namibia are all licensed and legal.

He came under the spotlight in Russia in recent days after a critic claimed he was seeking to woo children to hunting, even though there is no current advertisement for such underage safaris on his web links.

Pictures show the businessman after kills with two of his daughters, Ksenia, now 20, and Dana, 19, when they were children.

He was training to be a doctor but was "humiliated" by the salary (
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Ksenia appears to have been just 13 in a picture with a blue wildebeest, while Dana is seen at a slightly younger age with a gemsbok and a common warthog.

Critic Maxim Tikhonov posted: “Discovered some George Ragozin who …came up with a creative idea to teach hunting to children starting from the age of eight. $5 per bullet.”

Ragozin hit back: “Hey you, listen…” followed by a barrage of Russian slang, finishing: “I’ll come for you - just wait.”

One South African source reported: “Elephant populations are down 30 per sent in the last 10 years.

“So why is hunting them still allowed?

“A hundred years ago, the population of African Elephants stood at 10 million.

“That figure is now a miserly 400,000.”

He says he has "loyal supporters" (
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But Ragozin has loyal supporters not only among Russians but also Americans, Germans, Spaniards, Slovaks and Slovenians, he said.

In one video, Ragozin is called the “embodiment” of Russian hunting pride in Africa.

He is “a legend who is loved, respected and admired all over the trophy world", it says.

“Foreigners jokingly call him a crazy Russian.

“He is a highly goal-oriented person in what he does.

“He's very decisive and persistent in achieving ambitious goals in trophy hunting.”

An earlier picture shows him with close Vladimir Putin ally Dmitry Rogozin, currently head of the Russian Space Agency and formerly vice prime minister.

Ragozin set up his hunting business 15 years ago and it now boasts a $1.5 million (£1.15 million) turnover.

“I am Moscow born and bred,” he said.

He started the business 15 years ago (
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“After school I continued my family tradition and entered the surgical department at Perviy Moscow State Medical Sechenov Institute.

“I was really keen on becoming a doctor, but receiving a salary of $300 USD was so humiliating.

“I married during my student years and there was no way I could feed family with such income. “

He said “you’ve got to play by the local rules” to operate in Africa and boasts that he now has his own hunting estates covering up to 15,000 hectares.

“The hunting ‘fashion’ changes year to year,” he said.

“Some time ago antelope hunting was super popular.

“Now this type of hunting ....is in no demand."

The "top interest" now is "dangerous" animals and "very expensive packages ranging from $50,000 (£38,500) to $700,000 (£537,000) per one safari.”

He charges $55,000 (£42,150) for five days hunting white rhino or a 12-day elephant shoot (
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He started a 120-animal zoo near his home and hunting ground in the Limpopo province of South Africa - larger in size than Moscow Zoo.

He admits it is loss-making but claims hunting leads to animal conservation - and he criticises ecological groups for allegedly failing to help animals in the way they claim.

‘Not a single green or eco organisation offered a hand in running this zoo,” he said.

“I take all these organisations with a fair bit of skepticism, as to my mind they work a lot more for the public than for nature.

“I believe that hunting in conservation and that hunters take much better care of nature than anyone else.

“One example: when South Africa legalised trophy hunting, the number of animals grew eight times.

He charges upwards of £3,000 (
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“Taking care of animals is priority of any hunting business.

“The link is obvious - the more animals, the better business.

"This is why hunters all around the world are the best donors.”

Ragozin has a professional hunter’s license for dangerous game, and is a member of the Professional Hunters Association of South Africa, Safari Club International (SCI) and the International Professional Hunters Association (IPHA).

He was backed today by trophy hunter Sergey Yastrzhembsky, 64, former spokesman to Putin and his predecessor Boris Yeltsin.

“South Africa is one of the brightest and most convincing examples of how a properly organised trophy hunting can become a highly profitable business,” he said.

He boasts a $1.5 million (£1.15 million) turnover (
Image:
east2west news)

“It creates workplaces, revenue that brings taxes to the budget, improves living standards of local communities, provides market with high-quality meat, and helps to develop tourism.

“Forty years ago there were half a million animals, from jackals to elephants, in South Africa - when the country switched to modern trophy hunting model.

“Now there is a total of 20 million animals in South Africa alone.

“About 10,000 foreigners who go trophy hunting generate from $900 million to $1 billion in revenues.”