At the Kruger National Park in South Africa, a drunken South African tour guide decided to mess with the wildlife.
He got out of his jeep and charged at an elephant, who ends up running off.
That’s a risky move. We all know that an elephant could quite happily turn you into pulp and bone splinters. The man, who worked for Singita safari lodge, was fired, and the company said:
“We cannot stress enough that the behavior displayed in this video completely contradicts Singita’s guiding ethos and values toward conservation and wildlife preservation.”
Of course, the gent in question — Brian Thomas Masters — has since apologised on Facebook. That’s some pretty bad PR right there: the video’s already had 870,000+ views. His Facebook account was hammered by people slagging him off, probably whilst drinking milk squeezed from a dairy cows pustulating teat and eating a sandwich containing slaughtered pig.
I can’t help but ask, “is it that bad?” I mean, an elephant can look after itself. Don’t get me wrong, I am an animal lover and fan of the wild en general, and you shouldn’t mess with them unnecessarily, of course. But an elephant can fight her own battles.
Anyway, it’s quite shocking footage, so have a look. My favourite part of the clip is the message the uploader has slotted in at the end that says:
“Don’t any of you EVER behave like this. It’s a disgrace.”
You don’t have to tell me twice.
As part of his apology, Brian wrote:
“…..but also look carefully at yourself and ask if there was anything you have done in the past that had it been caught on camera could have had negative consequences. I hope you will have room for forgiveness as you understand how these mistakes can be made.”
