Well, it’s happened again. Just recently, 46-year-old Argentian Jose Monzalvez, was trampled and killed by an elephant he was tracking with a group of hunters in Namibia. The New York Post reports that Monzalvez worked for an oil company and was with another Argentinian and three Namibians when he was trampled to death. The elephants charged before the group was able to aim and shoot. Elephants certainly aren’t stupid and our guess is on the fact that the elephants knew exactly what the men were up to and were protecting their herd.

We just can’t believe preventable incidents like this are still happening because let’s be honest, Monzalvez shouldn’t have been hunting in the first place. Animals in the wild … are wild! They are living, thinking beings with instincts for survival. We have to ask ourselves if the “thrill of the hunt” is really worth risking your own life – while deliberately taking others.


We don’t celebrate anyone’s death (human or animal) and see the entire situation as utterly senseless. African elephants are being hunted to extinction, along with rhinos, for their tusks and horns. Big cats are creeping closer to extinction from the wild, while they are mercilessly hunted to become stuffed trophies or rugs. While bans on ivory and endangered species protections are popping up in more and more countries every day, the fact remains that poaching and big game hunting contribute to extinction and if we don’t take action now, we stand to lose some of the most iconic animals on the planet. In fact, we could lose the African elephant entirely by 2030. That’s less than two decades away.

Let’s leave wildlife alone. Instead of going to shoot big game, why not take a trip to simply appreciate the animals in their natural state? You can also support organizations like the World Animal Protection and the World Wildlife Fund who are working towards conservation – without killing.

Image source: oriharakon/Pixabay

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