Local man trampled by elephant bulls
A man was trampled to death by two elephants on Tuesday in a game reserve near Nhlazatshe in the Glückstadt area.
Beyers Coetzee, 45, was in the process of rehabilitating the former Mawana Game Reserve by incorporating additional farms to the east of the reserve. A number of the Mawana elephants had already migrated to this area. The new reserve, Loziba Wilderness, comprises of lots of dense bush, rugged and unoccupied, officials said.
The new reserve had been fenced and the elephants were collared and closely monitored on a daily basis.
“The elephants were controlled if they approached the neighbouring working farms. This was done by the use of a helicopter, the beating of drums and by firing shots into the air” the family’s attorney said in a press release.
The elephants had broken the fence on Tuesday afternoon and entered one of the working farms. Coetzee and four other men tried to drive the elephants in a northerly direction, away from the farm. The elephants moved slowly since they had several young within the herd. While Coetzee and another man counted the elephants, two bulls unexpectedly emerged from a dense bush and blindsided Coetzee. “He had very little time to try and escape and was tragically killed by the bulls.”Coetzee is survived by his wife and two young children.
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