Elephant Herd Smashes South African Rhino Poacher Into a Pulp

Rhinoceros horn is one of the most valuable substances on the planet. It usually sells for about twice as much on the black market per ounce as gold or diamonds. That’s because the horn is prized in east Asia as a sign of wealth and used as a traditional medicinal, a detoxifier and as an alleged cancer cure. That makes the horned ungulates prime targets for poachers.

So it was particularly good to hear that other species have their backs. One hapless poacher was lining up a shot in South Africa’s Kruger National Park with a partner in crime when a group of pachyderms stepped in. Literally.

From the Daily Mail . . .

Two men with a high-powered rifle and an axe had crossed into the iconic Kruger National Park in South Africa looking for a potential £10,000 payday with a single shot.

But unknown to them the white rhino herd had been following a water source along with a group of nearby African elephants sheltering from the harsh sun under trees.

As the pair closed in on the rhinos – whose horn per ounce is worth more than gold or cocaine on the black market – the elephants broke cover and charged them.

A Kruger National Park source said: ‘The two ran in different directions but the one lining up the shot was the slowest to his feet and the elephants went for him first.

‘He was quickly overrun and the elephants trampled him into the earth and all that we found was basically a very large blood stain around the clothing he was in.

The second, faster poacher avoided being squashed, but was later arrested.

There are some 1,850 white rhinos in the Kruger National Park which is the same size as Wales and home to the Big Five of elephant, rhino, buffalo, lion and leopard.

Last year, 175 rhinos were shot dead by poachers for their horns which can earn them fortunes and once exported to the Far East can be worth 20 times as much.

Who says all the news is bad these days?