Elephant shot dead in KNP staff village
SANParks released a statement on social media to confirm the tragic incident, and to explain that shooting the bull was a last resort taken by the field rangers.
Drastic but life-saving measures were taken when a young elephant bull charged SANParks staff members at the Pretoriuskop rest camp in the Kruger National Park recently.
The statement read: Dear all, staff members were charged by a young adult male (bull) inside the Pretoriuskop staff living quarters.
Field rangers had to shoot the elephant. The elephant ran out of the living quarters and died. It was threatening the lives of staff, and there was no alternative. Fortunately no one was injured.
There were several outraged comments on social media about the shooting, but an admin of the SANParks group reassured members that there was no alternative and that the rangers had to make an instant life-or-death decision.
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The bull would have become more agitated and aggressive if he remained in the village. Young bulls become very dangerous and far more aggressive when in musth.
The musth can be defined as a periodical change of the behaviour of elephant bulls, which can last from weeks up to months. This change has hormonal reasons. In the musth period a bull produces 40 to 60 times more testosterone (male sex hormone) than in the non-musth time.
Last week a 63-year-old female villager was killed by a hippo near the Kruger National Park. Muthavini Luceth Masungwini of Magona village, about 27 kilometres east of Malamulele, was crushed to death by a hippo near her home in the night.
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Several locals had apparently warned of the hippo and her calf in the area.
The death of the elderly woman highlighted the danger faced by people living near the park. Locals also lamented the destruction of the fence that used to keep the animals away.
