JOHANNESBURG: A Spanish tourist was trampled to death by an elephant after stepping out of his vehicle to take photos of a small breeding herd at a renowned South African park, authorities said Tuesday.
The 43-year-old man was attacked on Sunday at the Pilanesberg National Park, a tourist magnet about 200 kilometers (120 miles) northwest of Johannesburg, according to park officials.
The man, his fiancee and two women were driving their own vehicle within the reserve when they spotted three elephants and three calves, police said.
“Reports suggest that the man stopped the vehicle, alighted and went closer to the elephants to take pictures,” police spokesman Sabata Mokgwabone said.
North West province’s Parks and Tourism Board (NWPTB), which manages Pilanesberg, said an adult female elephant then charged at the man.
“He was unfortunately not able to escape or evade the elephant, which was now joined by the whole herd, and was caught and trampled to death,” it said.
“The elephants moved away immediately from the scene without any aggression toward the nearby vehicles and eventually disappeared into the bushes.”
Pieter Nel, NWPTB’s chief conservation officer, said the matriarch of the herd attacked upon becoming “agitated” after seeing the tourist approach.
It is normal behavior for elephants to try to “defend the young ones,” he added.
“Lots of tourists are oblivious to the dangers and do not realize how dangerous these animals can be,” he told AFP.
Nel and Mokgwabone said the man was from Spain.
His companions, all from Johannesburg, were unharmed, the police said, adding they had opened an investigation.
Elephant attacks are not uncommon in the region. In 2021 a suspected poacher was killed by elephants in South Africa’s world-famous Kruger National Park.
And last year 50 people were killed and 85 injured by wild animals — mostly elephants — in neighboring Zimbabwe, according to local authorities.
Pilanesberg and other South African parks tell visitors driving through the reserves to keep the windows closed and not to disembark from their vehicles.
“The dangerous and unpredictable nature of wild animals are always emphasized on the permits and booklets for sale in Pilanesberg,” NWPTB said, adding it was saddened by the “tragic incident.”
Spanish tourist killed by elephants in South Africa
https://arab.news/wsy2w
Spanish tourist killed by elephants in South Africa
- The 43-year-old man was attacked on Sunday at the Pilanesberg National Park
- The man, his fiancee and two women were driving their own vehicle within the reserve when they spotted three elephants and three calves, police said
Arts festival’s decision to exclude Palestinian author spurs boycott
- A Macquarie University academic who researches Islamophobia and Palestine, Abdel-Fattah responded saying it was “a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship,” with her lawyers issuing a letter to the festival
SYDENY: A top Australian arts festival has seen the withdrawal of dozens of writers in a backlash against its decision to bar an Australian Palestinian author after the Bondi Beach mass shooting, as moves to curb antisemitism spur free speech concerns.
The shooting which killed 15 people at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Dec. 14 sparked nationwide calls to tackle antisemitism. Police say the alleged gunmen were inspired by Daesh.
The Adelaide Festival board said last Thursday it would disinvite Randa Abdel-Fattah from February’s Writers Week in the state of South Australia because “it would not be culturally sensitive to continue to program her at this unprecedented time so soon after Bondi.”
FASTFACTS
• Abdel-Fattah responded, saying it was ‘a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship.’
• Around 50 authors have since withdrawn from the festival in protest, leaving it in doubt, local media reported.
A Macquarie University academic who researches Islamophobia and Palestine, Abdel-Fattah responded saying it was “a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship,” with her lawyers issuing a letter to the festival.
Around 50 authors have since withdrawn from the festival in protest, leaving it in doubt, local media reported.
Among the boycotting authors, Kathy Lette wrote on social media the decision to bar Abdel-Fattah “sends a divisive and plainly discriminatory message that platforming Australian Palestinians is ‘culturally insensitive.'”
The Adelaide Festival said in a statement on Monday that three board members and the chairperson had resigned. The festival’s executive director, Julian Hobba, said the arts body was “navigating a complex moment.”
a complex and unprecedented moment” after the “significant community response” to the board decision.
In the days after the Bondi Beach attack, Jewish community groups and the Israeli government criticized Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for failing to act on a rise in antisemitic attacks and criticized protest marches against Israel’s war in Gaza held since 2023.
Albanese said last week a Royal Commission will consider the events of the shooting as well as antisemitism and social cohesion in Australia. Albanese said on Monday he would recall parliament next week to pass tougher hate speech laws.
On Monday, New South Wales state premier Chris Minns announced new rules that would allow local councils to cut off power and water to illegally operating prayer halls.
Minns said the new rules were prompted by the difficulty in closing a prayer hall in Sydney linked to a cleric found by a court to have made statements intimidating Jewish Australians.
The mayor of the western Sydney suburb of Fairfield said the rules were ill-considered and councils should not be responsible for determining hate speech.
“Freedom of speech is something that should always be allowed, as long as it is done in a peaceful way,” Mayor Frank Carbone told Reuters.
