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A suspected poacher is believed to have been trampled to death by an elephant after the man’s mangled body was found in South Africa’s Kruger National Park, a park spokesman said on Saturday.
The body was discovered by national park rangers during an intelligence operation intended to prevent poachings in the park, Kruger spokesman Isaac Phaahla told AFP, according to CBS.
“Initial investigations suspect that the deceased was killed by an elephant and left behind by his accomplices,” Paahla said.
The suspected poacher was found with his cell phone still intact, which rangers provided to law enforcement in the hopes of identifying and locating his partners.
In April, a rhinoceros poacher was trampled to death in Kruger by a breeding herd of elephants he ran into after he was spotted by park rangers.
An alarming new study has discovered that as a result of generations of poaching, some African Elephants have evolved to be born without their iconic tusks.
“What I think this study shows is that it’s more than just numbers. The impacts that people have, we’re literally changing the anatomy of animals,” study co-author and Princeton University professor Robert Pringle told the Guardian.
Last week, the national park announced the arrest of four rhino poachers, indicating an increase in poaching this year compared to last year.
“There has been an increase of 29.41% in the number of poachers arrested (22) as compared to (17) for the same period in 2020,” officials said.
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