Animal

Elephant tramples tourist to death in front of his son


The elderly man was a vet from South Africa who was out on a walk with his son (Stock picture: Getty)

An elderly tourist was trampled to death by an elephant in ‘full view’ of his son in Zimbabwe.

The ‘tuskless’ female elephant charged at Michael Walsh, 71, and his 41-year-old son as they took a morning walk in Mana Pools National Park.

They were only 40 metres away from their car but Mr Walsh couldn’t outrun the huge animal.

Park spokesperson Tinashe Farawo said: ‘His son watched as the elephant killed his father.’

Mr Walsh, a vet from Cape Town, South Africa, was a ‘loyal tourist’ who had been visiting Mana Pools ‘almost every year’ for the past 35 years.

His death came just days after an anti-poaching co-ordinator was trampled to death by an elephant in Victoria Falls in western Zimbabwe.

‘We are extremely concerned because two people have been killed in one week alone,’ Mr Farawo said.

Mana Pools is a Unesco World Heritage site known for its beautiful setting along the Zambezi River and surrounding flood plain teeming with wildlife.

The African elephant trampled the tourist in Mana Pools National Park (Stock picture: Getty)

Zimbabwe’s national parks and environmental groups are reporting an increase of cases of conflict between humans and wildlife in recent years.

More than 40 people have died from such conflicts in parks and other rural areas in Zimbabwe so far this year, said Mr Farawo.

Like other parks in Zimbabwe, Mana Pools experiences hot, dry weather at this time of the year, limiting food and water sources for the thousands of elephants, lions, buffaloes, zebras, wild dogs, hyenas, zebras and other animals.

It means animals often wonder into human settlements in search of water, crops and livestock for food, said Mr Farawo.

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