![\"elephant-Elephants-trample-suspected-poacher-to-death-in-South-Africa-rapidnews\"](\"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/elephant-Elephants-trample-suspected-poacher-to-death-in-South-Africa-rapidnews.jpg\")
<\/p>\nA suspected\u00a0poacher\u00a0was trampled to death after running into a herd of elephants at exactly the worst possible time on Saturday, in what South Africa National Parks (SANParks) officials described as an \u201cunfortunate\u201d incident.<\/p>\n
The man was one of three suspected rhino poachers whom park rangers were chasing through Kruger National Park at the time, SANParks said in a\u00a0news release.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen they realized they had been spotted, the suspected poachers dropped an axe and a bag with their provisions in an attempt to escape from the rangers,\u201d SANParks said.<\/p>\n
Officials also recovered a rifle.<\/p>\n
The rangers pursued the three suspects with dogs and air support. They eventually caught up with one who said his accomplice had run into a herd of breeding elephants, but he did not know what happened after that.<\/p>\n
Rangers went to the spot where the man was last seen and found that he had been \u201cbadly trampled,\u201d SANParks said.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s unclear how many elephants were involved, but a single adult African elephant can\u00a0weigh\u00a0up to 3.3 tonnes.<\/p>\n
The suspect ultimately died of his injuries.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is unfortunate that a life was unnecessarily lost,\u201d Gareth Coleman, the managing executive of Kruger National Park, said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Authorities ultimately arrested one suspect and were still looking for the second one on Monday. He got away with an eye injury, they said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnly through discipline, teamwork and tenacity will we be able to help stem the tide of rhino poaching in KNP,\u201d Coleman added.<\/p>\n
Kruger National Park is one of Africa\u2019s largest game reserves and home to thousands of African elephants.<\/p>\n
A suspected\u00a0poacher\u00a0was trampled to death after running into a herd of elephants at exactly the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9303,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n