Hunter Crushed To Death After Elephant He Shot Falls Over Him

Back in 2017, the big game hunter Theunis Botha learned his lesson the hard way. Botha and his colleagues came across a breeding herd of elephants at the Zimbabwean village of Gwai. However, the animals were alerted by the threat and charged toward them. In return, Botha fired off a shot or two towards them. 

Getty Images

Ambushing him from the side, one of the elephants charged towards him, and lifted him up in the air with her trunk. Another hunter shot the elephant, hoping that it would drop Botha and flee. The shot proved to be fatal, however – and as the elephant collapsed, Botha fell beneath it and was subsequently crushed to death.

Getty Images

Big game hunting has been a topic of debate for several reasons. Even though some people argue that there are ecological benefits of hunting, the truth is that most of it involve helping to wipe out extremely vulnerable species, which is undoubtedly a terrible thing to engage in. Sure, poaching is far worse, and habitat destruction does not help, but legal hunting is only exacerbating things further.

The fact is that this fight in itself is very unfair. Killing majestic and rare breed animals for the thrill of it can never be fair for an animal who is not expecting a human to sneak up on them with a rifle, cars and sometimes even helicopters. There’s nothing to be proud of about killing a harmless animal for sport, especially when the odds are stacked so heavily against it.

Getty Images

In fact, one should also not underestimate the wildlife. If humans are going to attack and kill them, then they will learn to defend themself. This incident here is an example of it.

Botha, from South Africa, was reportedly a well-known hunter in the region, and he often ventured to the US to encourage high-income Americans to join in on the sport. He was often seen hunting with his dogs.

Getty Images

His demise isn’t the first hunt-related death this year. One of Botha’s friends, Scott van Zyl, was on the search from some big game trophies in Zimbabwe back in April when he was attacked and eaten alive by crocodiles on the banks of the Limpopo River.

Getty Images