Elephant Tramples Suspected Poacher To Death In Zimbawe

An elephant in Zimbabwe refused to go down easy when a pair of suspected poachers approached it at a protected safari reserve in one of the country's expansive national parks.

Rangers at Charara National Park reportedly stumbled upon the remains of Solomon Manjoro, an alleged poacher, who appears to have been trampled to death during an attempted poaching trip, according to Zimbabwe's Sunday Mail newspaper.

The elephant charged at the man after he allegedly tried to shoot it during an illegal hunting trip through the park, and Manjoro ended up losing his life under the crushing weight of the legally protected animal.

An accomplice of Manjoro, 29-year-old Noluck Tafuruka, was also arrested on the park grounds in the northwestern part of the African nation and charged with illegal possession of a firearm without a license and violating local wildlife protection laws, as was 52-year-old Godfrey Shonge, according to the Sunday Mail.

"The poacher was recently trampled to death by an elephant after he failed to gun down the jumbo during a hunting expedition," the paper wrote, adding that the pair likely came across the elephant while on a hunting expedition in late April. Manjoro's body was not found until about two weeks ago.

Police reported that the two suspected poachers allegedly attempted to shoot the beast, but instead of killing it they only angered it, leading it to charge them.

Incidences of illegal elephant poaching have been on the rise in Africa in recent years as the global market for ivory has spiked following a surge of interest in the material in China and other nations.

Just last week, at least 26 elephants were killed by a group of poachers with Kalashnikov rifles at a protected sanctuary in central Africa, according to NBC News.