Veteran big game hunter dies after elephant, felled by gunfire, collapses on him
Theunis Botha led his first guided hunting safari through South Africa?s grasslands in 1989. A college student at the time, he used the money he received to help put himself through school. Over the following 28 years, Botha expanded his college side-gig into a full-fledged business, setting up private hunting ranches in Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa and elsewhere, and drawing clients from around the world. He won a reputation as a sought-after specialist in leopard and lion hunting, and pioneered a new method of using hounds to track big game, according to his hunting company?s website. On Friday, after countless treks into the African wilderness, the 51-year-old embarked on his final hunt.
Botha was leading a group of hunters in western Zimbabwe on Friday afternoon when they stumbled upon a breeding herd of elephants in Hwange National Park, the Telegraph reported.
Startled, three elephant cows charged the group. Botha opened fire, according to News24, but a fourth elephant rammed him from the side, lifting him with her trunk. One of his fellow hunters then fired a shot.
The elephant collapsed on top of Botha, killing him, News24 reported.