Embattled National Rifle Association Executive Director Wayne Lapierre had the carcasses of various animals he and his wife slaughtered during an NRA-paid 2013 safari secretly shipped to the United States so a taxidermist could turn them into trophies and accessories like umbrella stands, stools, purses and a trash can, the New Yorker reports.

The safari to Botswana, the fees associated with shipping the animal remains to the United States, and the taxidermy costs were all paid for by the NRA, amounting to thousands of dollars in unreported income to the Lapierres and violating the NRA’s own rules that bar gifts for executives over $250.

The Lapierres were careful to ensure that the shipment of animal remains–which included one cape-buffalo skull, two sheets of elephant skin, two elephant ears, four elephant tusks, and four front elephant feet–were labeled in a way that could not be immediately linked to them.  The shipment was sent directly to the taxidermist, and the Lapierres’ name did not appear anywhere on the bills of lading. 

Wayne Lapierre and his wife, Susan, were cognizant of the public opposition to big game hunts, and they did not want it released that they not only participated in one, but that they were going to make gaudy home decorations out of the kills.  Video from the NRA-sponsored show “Under Wild Skies” had already sparked public outrage, and the Lapierres blocked use of footage of their hunts from being used on the show.

The reason they objected to its use may have more to do with embarrassment than outrage:  while Susan had a clean kill of her elephant, Wayne didn’t.  Video later seen by reporters shows Wayne struggling to humanely finish off a mortally wounded pachyderm, with a guide having to supply the coup de grâce to put the creature out of its agony.

The effort to keep the Lapierres an arm’s length away from the shipment of animal parts may also violate federal law regarding the import of trophy kills into the United States.  Emails confirm that a bill of lading from Botswana to South Africa–the first step in the international journey of the carcasses–included the Lapierres’ name as the license holder, but it was changed by a shipper in South Africa to only refer to the taxidermist.