Lions ‘devour’ poacher after he is trampled to death by an elephant in Kruger National Park

A poacher was trampled to death by an elephant and then “devoured” by lions while illegally hunting rhino at Kruger National Park in South Africa. The only remaining traces rangers could find were his head and clothes.

A group of poachers were hunting rhino when “suddenly, an elephant attacked and killed one of them,” Police Brigadier Leonard Hlathi explained, Times Live reports.

The three other poachers carried the man’s body to the side of the road before fleeing the scene. They informed the man’s family of his death, and police launched an investigation to find his remains and track down the other poachers.

Kruger Park Rangers began searching for the man’s body on Tuesday evening, sending a helicopter to scan the area known as Crocodile Bridge, but had no luck finding him.

The three other poachers were arrested, though, and two hunting rifles and ammunition were seized, South African Police Service said. The jailed poachers were questioned to get more information about their whereabouts at the time of the extreme elephant attack.

The man’s remains were finally found days later, but rangers believe a pride of lions “devoured [them], leaving only a human skull and a pair of pants,” a park spokesman said.

“Entering the Kruger illegally and on foot is not wise as it holds very many dangers and this incident is clear evidence of that,” Kruger National Park managing executive Glenn Phillips warned. “It was very sad to see the daughters of the deceased man mourning the loss of their father, and worse still, only being able to recover very little of his remains.”

The three surviving poachers face charges of conspiracy to poach, possession of firearms and ammunition without a licence, and trespassing.

Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!