Source; livescience
A professional big-game hunter by name Theunis Botha, was crushed to death on the afternoon of May 19 near Gwai, Zimbabwe, by a female elephant which had been shot by a member of his hunting party.
Botha, a resident of Tzaneen, South Africa, was leading a group of hunters when they walked in on a breeding herd of elephants and were immediately charged by three females, according to the South African news site News24.
It was a case of the hunters being the hunted as Botha fired at the charging elephants, but a fourth female quickly grabbed him, lifting him into the air with her trunk. One of the other hunters in their party immediately shot the female elephant, which collapsed on Botha as she died, while still holding him in her trunk!
Fully grown Female African elephants ( Loxodonta africana ) are known to grow up to 9 feet (2.6 meters) tall and can weigh up to 7,125 pounds (2,232 kilograms).
The incident took place at the Good Luck Ranch near Hwange National Park in northwest Zimbabwe.
A spokesperson for the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, Simukai Nyasha had this to say in a statement;
"Botha was renowned for safaris using dogs that were specially trained to track and hunt big game animals such as leopards and lions, according to his website, Big Game Safaris. He began leading hunting expeditions in 1989 on his own property in South Africa, and later offering his services for hunts on private ranches in Zimbabwe, Botswana, Mozambique and Namibia".
Wildlife trophy hunters normally confront big game animals from a distance and with long-range guns, but that doesn't always protect them from being attacked by this large beasts.
A suspected poacher in Charara National Park, also in northwestern Zimbabwe, met a similar fate to Botha's in 2013. He was trampled to death by an elephant. His remains were discoverd by rangers.
Zimbabwe is said to have the second largest population of elephants. With an estimated 80,000 elephants as reported in the Zimbabwe National Elephant Management Plan (2015 – 2020).
0 Comments