A British woman has been released from the hospital after surviving a scary elephant attack during a recent South African safari trip.
Sarah Brooks, a teacher, was stabbed in her thigh by the elephant’s tusk during the incident at Kruger National Park on Dec. 30. Her partner suffered minor injuries.
The shocking incident was captured on video by passengers inside a nearby vehicle. The clip shows the car approaching the elephant, which eventually tips over the couple's car and crushes it.
(Warning: Video contains explicit language.)
"Of course they were totally frightened but also thankful that they were alive," William Mabasa, general manager at the park, told the BBC. "The car is a wreck, if I may put it that way."
The animal was put down just after the attack because its behavior had become unpredictable, according to the park manager.
“Since it was in its musth phase, the elephant had got into a fight with another dominant bull before and was very aggressive,” South African National Parks representative Ike Phaahla told City Press, a South African news outlet. “We need to respect their space. They are wild animals and behave naturally in the wild. Their behavior can be very unpredictable and if they feel under threat, they will attack to defend themselves.”
During an elephant’s musth phase, which happens during the breeding season, testosterone levels rise, causing the animal to become more aggressive, the report notes.
This isn’t the first time an elephant has overturned a car at the park. In April, an elephant attacked a vehicle carrying two Chinese tourists. The incident left one of the passengers in critical condition.
According to the Mother Nature Network, an agitated elephant can make for one of the most dangerous animals in the wild.
“African elephant society has been decimated by mass deaths and social breakdown from poaching, culls [systematic killing to control populations], and habitat loss. Wild elephants are displaying symptoms associated with human PTSD," elephant researcher Joyce Poole wrote in a 2005 study, according to National Geographic.
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