A Spanish tourist has been trampled to death by elephants in a South African national park after apparently trying to take pictures of a breeding herd that included three calves.

The 43-year-old man was killed on Sunday morning at Pilanesberg national park about 130 miles (210km) north-west of Johannesburg.

According to park officials, the man, who was with three friends, climbed out of his vehicle and walked towards the animals to take photos.

“Despite warnings from his fellow passengers, and occupants from two other vehicles that were at the sighting, he unfortunately did not heed their warnings,” the North West province’s parks and tourism board said in a statement.

  • TransplantedSconie@lemm.ee
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    3 months ago

    Stupid Fucking Moron Dies Doing Something Stupid

    A moron died today after being warned repeatedly to not do the thing that killed him.

    Ignoring warnings and being clueless to the zoom feature on 100% of cameras and phones offered to the population today, he instead walked towards the 12,000 lb animal and its offspring, sending it into a rage.

    The Not Quite Mensa Material was 43 years old and people who knew him are amazed he made it that long.

      • Jumpingspiderman@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Unfortunately not before he reproduced. Jared Diamond in “Germs, Guns, and Steel” points out that so-called primitive people are likely to be more intelligent than so-called civilized people probably because the dumb “primitives” get culled if they do something stupid. Whereas the stupid civilized people go into middle management

  • poo@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Funny tourists go home! became such a popular sentiment among the spanish, while also out doing stupid shit in other countries, as a tourist.

    Maybe “tourists go home” was what the elephants were trumpeting as he got trampled to death

  • Mereo@lemmy.ca
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    3 months ago

    What in the actual f*&%:

    According to park officials, the man, who was with three friends, climbed out of his vehicle and walked towards the animals to take photos.

    So tourists think that they are domesticated animals?! They’re not dogs. Respect nature.

    • Jumpingspiderman@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      We were recently in Wyoming/Montana etc. where the moose and the buffalo roam. We saw people try for their Darwin awards by approaching these wild animals more than once. I feel sorry for their families. But if there ever was a FAFO situation, this is it.

    • stoly@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      If you watch fail videos, people constantly pick up wild animals and try to pet or kiss them. It’s very strange.

  • NeptuneOrbit@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Better than squirt guns

    (sad story, I know, but oddly similar to the story out of Barcelona this week…)

    • ShepherdPie@midwest.social
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      3 months ago

      That was literally the last post I read before this one. In Spain they’re protesting to end tourism. In Africa they’re trampling Spanish tourists.

  • stoly@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    I didn’t have to read the article to know that this was someone being an idiot. Reading the article confirmed that.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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    3 months ago

    You’re on the African savanna. Don’t get out of the fucking car. Even if the elephants don’t trample you, there’s lions and hyenas and stuff. Just fucking stupid.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    3 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    A Spanish tourist has been trampled to death by elephants in a South African national park after apparently trying to take pictures of a breeding herd that included three calves.

    The 43-year-old man was killed on Sunday morning at Pilanesberg national park about 130 miles (210km) north-west of Johannesburg.

    Pieter Nel, the board’s chief conservation officer, told Agence France-Presse that the matriarch of the herd had attacked after becoming “agitated” by the man’s approach.

    The board offered its condolences to the dead man’s family and friends, saying it was “very saddened by this tragic incident”.

    Last year 50 people were killed and 85 injured by wild animals – mostly elephants – in neighbouring Zimbabwe, according to local authorities.

    The central government’s representative to the region told La Vanguardia that consular staff were travelling to the scene of the accident to take possession of the man’s body and repatriate it.


    The original article contains 406 words, the summary contains 149 words. Saved 63%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!