Britons trampled to death by Rampaging elephant
Pastor Dale Morgan
Britons trampled to death by Rampaging elephant*
By Peta Thornycroft, Zimbabwe Correspondent
Last Updated: 2:27am BST 27/03/2007
A British father watched in horror as his wife and daughter were
trampled to death by a rampaging elephant while on safari in Zimbabwe,
it emerged yesterday.
The bull was reported to have shrugged off gunfire from the family's
armed guard before killing the two Britons and seriously injuring the
guide in Hwange National Park in north-west Zimbabwe. The father was
unharmed.
African bull elephant, A British father watched in horror as his wife
and daughter were trampled to death by a rampaging elephant while on
safari in Zimbabwe
African bull elephants can run at up to 25mph
Barry Wolhuter, who runs the safari company The Hide, which hosted the
tourists, described the attack as "horrendous". "The elephant was in
musk, [sexually active]. Andy fired at the elephant but it continued and
knocked him over."
The attack happened on Saturday at the Kennedy 2 water pan in the
southern part of the park.
Mr Wolhuter said his company had immediately and "indefinitely" stopped
its walking tours in Hwange.
The British embassy in the capital, Harare, said yesterday that the
father was too distraught to speak to the press. He was also "very busy
sorting out the red tape" in Harare to organise transport of the women's
bodies.
A spokesman declined to name the family until relatives in Britain had
been informed.
The guide, named as Andy Trevillia, 38, a Zimbabwean, was seriously
injured and was in hospital in Bulawayo. Tour guides in the national
parks typically carry weapons to protect tourists.
Elephants are the second most dangerous animal for humans in Zimbabwe,
after crocodiles, and bulls can run at up to 25mph. In 2005, 12 people,
including villagers trying to protect their crops, were killed by
elephants,.
Conservation groups say the elephant population in Hwange, the nation's
largest nature preserve, has soared in the absence of regular culling.
However, Johnny Rodrigues, chairman of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task
Force, who has helped raise hundreds of thousands of pounds for the
upkeep of Hwange, claimed that unscrupulous tour companies were
capturing wild elephants and using them on safaris, upsetting the herds
in the park.
"A group of young elephants were kidnapped from their families last
October for [another] safari company to be trained for tourist rides,"
he said. "About 140 families of elephants were directly affected by this.
"When I was last in the park the elephants were incredibly aggressive
towards humans. Many wildlife organisations warned that taking these
young elephants would have consequences."