A safari park owner who once said he would \u201crather be killed by an elephant than shoot one\u201d was fatally trampled by an elephant at his South African wildlife reserve.<\/p>\n
Gary Freeman, 65, an experienced safari tour guide, was leading a small group of tourists at Klaserie Private Nature Reserve in the Limpopo province on April 9 when the rogue elephant suddenly charged at him, the Daily Mail reported.<\/p>\n
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\u201cGary tried to break the charge, but he never fired a shot. The elephant was very quickly on him, and it was, as you imagine, not pleasant,\u201d a source said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is nothing anyone can do to stop six tonnes of angry elephant. Fortunately, it was all over quickly,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n
The four tourists on the tour helped get Freeman into a vehicle and \u201crushed him to try and get medical attention, but nothing could be done,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had succumbed to his dreadful injuries.\u201d<\/p>\n
A previous visitor to the 148,000-acre park said Freeman had a deep connection to elephants.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the past, we have heard Gary speak of his deep respect and love for the elephants,\u201d wrote Judy Connors of Johannesburg in a Facebook tribute.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said he would rather be killed by an elephant than shoot one. Perhaps this is what I want to believe, but there must have been a special bond, soul-to-soul, for this elephant to be the chosen one tasked with his deliverance,\u201d Connors said.<\/p>\n
Freeman graduated from college with a mechanical-engineering degree but became a ranger and ran the safari company he co-owned for 33 years.<\/p>\n
He co-founded Klaserie in 1969, when 36 farm owners merged to create one of South Africa\u2019s biggest Big Five game reserves.<\/p>\n
Police in Limpopo have opened an inquest into what happened, and experts have been called in to assess whether the elephant is a threat to others.<\/p>\n
Although elephant attacks are rare, between 300 and 600 people are killed by the animals annually, according to figures.<\/p>\n
In January, nearly two dozen people were killed and 15 were injured by an elephant that went on a 10-day rampage through multiple towns and villages in India.<\/p>\n