Furious elephants take revenge after trophy hunter shoots herd member dead at close distance

I’ve never understood the thrill people get from hunting wild animals for sport.

Shooting dead a creature for food is one thing – and even then it can be a gray zone depending on the circumstances – but doing so simply to prove that you can, or to test your own aptitude with a high-powered rifle, is a whole different thing. At best it’s a gross misuse of the privileges we humans enjoy, at worst a sickening example of the cruelty people will stoop to for their own kicks.

Which is likely why stories where trophy hunters meet a grizzly end at the paws or claws of the very animals they’re seeking to destroy are so well received online.

This particularly story doesn’t feature anyone being eaten or mauled after attempting to kill an animal, but it does describe an episode in which one hunter was very nearly made to understand why messing with Mother Nature can have dire consequences…

– Article contains material some readers may find distressing. Discretion is advised.

In footage captured a few years ago, a hunter can be seen shooting dead an elephant at close range, moments before being forced to flee for his life as the late animal’s furious herd stampeded towards him to claim vengeance.

As per reports, the video was captured in the Nakabolelwa Conservancy in Namibia, and depicts the aforementioned hunter taking aim at a family of magnificent elephants as they unassumingly walk by.

“Hit him between the eyes,” comes the instruction from another member of the hunting party.

And the hunter, tragically, does just that, striking one of the elephants with two shots fired from his gun. His guide then shoots the dying animal a third time, felling the poor thing.

Yet the tables quickly turned when the rest of the elephant’s herd immediately reacted to the danger and charged head-on towards the hunting party.

Watch the video below:

The hunters, suddenly panicked, are forced to flee the area, and would most certainly have been trampled had they held their position.

Justice? Not quite, but there’s certainly some small measure of satisfaction to be gleaned from watching hunters run for their lives.

In defense of the elephant’s shooting, big game hunter Corné Kruger told News24 in South Africa: “There is a small quota of elephants in the area and we only hunt two elephants a year.”

Kruger, said to own Omujeve Hunting Safaris, claimed nearby communities had benefited from hunting.

“We employ 12 people from the community, some of them as game guards,” he said. The funds go to conservation and fund anti-poaching units,” Kruger said.

For further reading about trophy hunters getting more than they bargained for while on a hunt, check out this story about a hunter who was eaten by crocodiles after targeting elephants and lions.