They killed Voortrekker, the legendary elephant of Namibia, one of the last remaining specimens, loved and photographed by many tourists.
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves himIn the end they succeeded, they killed Voortrekker, the legendary elephant of Namibia, immortalized by the cameras of many tourists.
African elephant, one of the last and oldest in Namibia, had moved to the Kunene region in the 80s, adapting perfectly to the desert environment. And it was thanks to him that other specimens of his family came here, repopulating the area with elephants, previously extinct due to poaching.
It was no coincidence that he was called "Voortrekker", which means The language is afrikaans "Those who move forward" or "pioneer". It was he who taught newcomers the tricks to survive on site, passing them on by example. In fact, elephants learn the art of environmental adaptation from the oldest and wisest specimens, it is not a matter of genetically transmitted knowledge. And this should be enough to understand how precious his role was!
Despite being considered a peaceful animal, it was accused of causing damage to property and infrastructure in the Omatjete area. Therefore sold by the government to a trophy hunter, which deprived him of life forever.
Immediately after the sad news spread, there was no lack of protests and in a post published on Facebook, Niël Terblanché, reporter for the Namibian newspaper Informanté, raised doubts regarding the veracity of the statements reported by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism of Namibia.
Greed blamed for killing of iconic elephantNiël TerblanchéAN urgent letter addressed to the Ministry of Environment…
Posted by Informanté on Saturday, June 29, 2019
Also on Facebook, Informanté reported the statements of the Ministry regarding the killing, which said it had not found alternative solutions to killing, given the seriousness of the damage caused by the animal.
Hunter kills iconic Namibian elephantNiël TerblanchéVoortrekker, an iconic desert adapted elephant bull and also one…
Posted by Informanté on Saturday, June 29, 2019
In South Africa newspaper Die Burger today…
Posted by Izak Smit on Monday, July 1, 2019
But apparently the animal had been in the sights of trophy hunters for a long time, so much so that in 2008 a hunting license had already been granted to shoot it down together with 5 other desert elephants, all killed. He was spared thanks to the fundraising organized by the NGO Elephant-Human Relations Aid (EHRA), which managed to reach around 11 thousand euros, and which today, talking about it, describes him as a kind and peaceful example.
A real pity that this time they failed to save him, also because Voortrekker, as stated, was one of the last specimens of Namibia. An old sage who could have imparted, for years to come, precious teachings to his successors, thus preventing thetotal extinction of desert elephants.
Laura Rose
