AR-News: (S. Africa) Tourist Saved from Charging Elephant

[Animalara2003 at aol.com]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040310/od_nm/safrica_eleph
ant_tourist_dc 

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African game rangers shot and killed an 
elephant as it charged a British tourist in the country's Kruger National Park 
Tuesday, park officials said. 
 
John Anslow from Stafford in the United Kingdom said in a statement released 
by park officials he thought he was going to die when the enraged elephant 
charged a group he was with as it took a guided walk in the south of the park. 
"At the moment, I thought I was dead. I was lying on the ground with the 
elephant virtually on top of me and then I heard the shots and the elephant 
slumped to the ground on my right," Anslow told the park officials. 
Kruger National Park public relations manager William Mabasa told Reuters the 
female elephant was killed by a single shot to its brain when it was 30 
meters away from the tourists, walking on the banks of the Nwaswitshaka River near 
Skukuza camp. 
It was a rare incident for the park, whose game rangers advise tourists how 
to behave and keeps them at a safe distance from dangerous animals. It was 
believed that the elephant, a lactating cow, may have recently lost her calf, 
Mabasa said. 
Anslow as taken to the doctor shortly after the incident but his injuries 
were slight. He could not be reached for comment. 
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