South African hunter is crushed to death when an elephant he was hunting in Zimbabwe is shot and falls on him

51-year-old Theunis Botha, a South African safari leader and big game hunter, was crushed to death on Friday afternoon when an elephant was shot and fell on top of him. He had been hunting with a group in Gwai, Zimbabwe, when the incident occurred.


The group had come across a herd of elephants and began to shoot at them, so the animals charged at the hunters in defense and one of them picked up Botha with its trunk. In an effort to get the elephant to drop their mate, a member of his group shot the elephant but the dying animal fell on top of Botha,  crushing him to death.

Botha, a married father-of-five, was a highly respected houndsman, and frequently led leopard and lion hunting safaris with his pack of dogs for his company Game Hounds Safaris. He pioneered the traditional European-style 'Monteria hunts' in southern African countries, according to the Game Hounds Safaris website. He was a well-known hunter in Zimbabwe, and often traveled to the United States to recruit wealthy Americans to take part in big game trophy hunting in Africa.

The deceased's wife, Carika is expected to make the trip to Zimbabwe in the next few days to identify her husband's body and then bring him home.