A suspected poacher was trampled to death by a herd of elephants in South Africa's Kruger National Park as he prepared to shoot a white rhino for its horn. He and an accomplice had illegally entered the park armed with a high-powered rifle and an axe, reportedly hoping for a payday of around £10,000, when a nearby elephant herd charged them; the slower of the two men was killed while his companion escaped and was later arrested. Park authorities said the incident highlights the dangers poachers face and the protective instincts of elephants, who they believe may recognise and react to poaching threats.

Rangers were alerted by the surviving suspect, who reported his accomplice missing after hearing screaming during their flight. They hiked around six kilometres to find only a large bloodstain and the victim's clothing near a rhino herd by a river. Kruger, a park the size of Wales, is home to roughly 1,850 white rhinos, of which 175 were killed by poachers last year for horns that can fetch prices exceeding gold or cocaine on the black market, despite being made of keratin. The surviving suspect has been handed to police to face trial, echoing a 2018 incident in which lions killed three poachers at another South African reserve.