Diego Maradona hunts endangered antelope named Arabian Oryx and faces backlash in social media

Diego Maradona hunts endangered antelope named Arabian Oryx and faces backlash in social media

Diego Maradona hunts endangered antelope named Oryx and faces backlash in social media
FOOTBALL legend Diego Maradona is facing the fury of animal lovers across the world after this photo of him supposedly putting his Hand of God skills to use on an endangered animal went viral on social media.
The retired footballer was pictured holding up an at-risk species of antelope known as the Arabian oryx.

To make matters worse the animal in the photo was identified as a baby.

Social media users attacked the Argentinian, who is now based in Dubai, even though papers in his homeland and Spain who published it said they could not vouch for its authenticity.
Neither the footballer - whose infamous Hand of God cheating goal put England out of the 1986 World Cup - or his close circle of friends made any immediate comment.

The Arabian oryx or white oryx, native to desert and steppe areas of the Arabian Peninsula, was extinct in the wild by the early 1970s, but was saved in zoos and private reserves before being reintroduced into the wild starting in 1980.

It was classified as endangered on the IUCN Red List in 1986 and in 2011 became the first animal to revert to vulnerable status after previously being listed as extinct in the wild.