Windhoek  - A German aristocrat is scheduled to appear in court in the south-west African state of Namibia Thursday on suspicion of killing scores of endangered mountain zebra.

Christian Prinz zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg, 28, is alleged to have killed the animals at a private game reserve owned by his father 70 kilometres south-west of the capital Windhoek.

The zebra were allegedly slaughtered between 2001 and 2005 and their carcasses buried on the farm. It was not clear whether they were used for meat or for their skins.

A local farmer alleged the actual number of zebra killed by zu Hohenlohe totalled several hundred. Police and Namibian wildlife protection officials had merely dug up 193 as a sample, Namibia's German-language Allgemeine Zeitung reported Wednesday.

Under Namibian law, hunters may only kill eight mountain zebra a year, provided they have a permit.

Zu Hohenlohe's father Max Gottfried Prinz zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg bought the farm in 1982. The farm was declared bankrupt earlier this year.

The case will be heared in a magistrate's court in the town of Rehoboth.

Mountain zebra are native to south-west Africa. There are two subspecies of mountain zebra. The equus zebra is endangered and the equus zebra hartmannae is threatened. (dpa)