A professional hunter who spent nearly 30 years pursuing big game has died after being crushed by an elephant shot by someone in his hunting party.
Theunis Botha, who began hunting in 1989, built a business around organizing hunting expeditions, using the earnings to fund his education.
After completing college, he and his wife established a hunting farm, eventually expanding to own multiple private hunting ranches across Zimbabwe, Botswana, and South Africa.
In 2017, while leading a hunting group near Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park, Theunis Botha encountered a herd of breeding elephants.
Three of the elephants charged at the group, and one reportedly lifted Theunis with her trunk. In response, another hunter fired at the elephant, causing it to collapse on top of Theunis, fatally crushing him.
His eldest daughter later confirmed his death, as reported by “BBC News Online”.
Theunis Botha specialized in “Monteria hunts”, a style of hunting in which a pack of hounds drives deer and boar toward hunters, who then take their shots.
According to his website, he began leading hunting safaris in 1989 after serving as a sergeant in the South African infantry.
His death was announced on Twitter by his friend Steve Scott, while Zimbabwe-based Kuronda Safaris, which had worked with him, paid tribute on Facebook, describing him as “a great man with a fantastic sense of humor.”