Mutilated elephant carcass horrifies tourists
The cause of the animal's death is being investigated.
SATARA – Tourists were greeted with the grisly sight of a mutilated elephant corpse lying on the road just outside Satara this morning.
SAPS and SANParks environmental investigators are on the scene, about one kilometre outside Satara.
“It was about 07:00 when we saw the carcass lying in the road,” said Frieda Sheppard. Her husband, At, elaborated on the state of the mammal. “Its intestines had not been eaten, which lead us to the conclusion that it could not have been killed naturally,” he said. The couple added that the elephant’s genitals had seemingly been removed – a practice they say is usually employed by those who kill animals for muthi.
The police holds a different theory. “At this point in time it seems as though the animal was killed by predators, such as lions,” said SAPS Skukuza spokesman WO Willie Broodryk.
Poaching and a possible muti killing is not suspected, but a full investigation will confirm how the animal died.
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