Poacher is trampled to death by elephant . . . then eaten by lions

A POACHER was trampled to death by an elephant before his remains were devoured by a pride of lions inside a game park.

The man was believed to be hunting rhino with other poachers in South Africa’s 7,500 square mile Kruger National Park when he was trampled by the elephant.

Rather than carry his body home, and slow themselves down, the hunters left him close to where he died.

Police brigadier Leonard Hlathi said: ‘His accomplices claimed to have carried his body to the road so that passers-by could find it in the morning. They then vanished from the park.’

Four of the other poachers were arrested the following day and confessed what happened to the man’s family in a phone call.

The relatives then called officials, who began looking for his remains. Following a two- day search, which saw park rangers and a spotter plane deployed, only a human skull and the man’s trousers were found.

A pride of lions is believed to have eaten the man, who has not been named, after he was crushed in the Crocodile Bridge section of the vast park, a spokesman said. Park officials offered a warning to others, and their condolences to the man’s family.

‘Entering Kruger National Park illegally and on foot is not wise, it holds many dangers and this incident is evidence of that,’ Glenn Phillips, who manages the national preserve, told the Letaba Herald after the grisly discovery last week. ‘It is very sad to see the daughters of the deceased mourning the loss of their father, and worse still, only being able to recover very little of his remains.’ The four arrested men are due to appear in court this week.

The Kruger National Park is popular with British tourists as it contains the ‘Big Five’ safari animals – lions, leopards, rhinos, elephants and buffalos. But that also makes it an attractive place for poachers.

On Saturday, Hong Kong airport authorities seized the biggest haul of rhino horn in five years, valued at £1.6million, with at least some thought to have come from poaching inside Kruger. In July last year at least three heavily armed rhino poachers were eaten by a lion pride at the Sibuya Game Reserve in Eastern Province, South Africa, after they broke into the park. A head and a number of bloodied limbs and body parts were recovered along with a single empty shoe, high-powered hunting rifles and an axe.