‎Safari Park Owner’s Prediction Gets Fulfilled, Killed by an Angry Elephant

‎A safari-park owner who once said he would rather be killed by an elephant than shoot one was fatally trampled by an elephant at his South African wildlife reserve.
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‎Gary Freeman, 65, was leading a small group of tourists at Klaserie Private Nature Reserve in the Limpopo province on April 9 when the elephant suddenly charged at him, the Daily Mail reported.
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‎“Gary 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,” a source said.
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‎“There is nothing anyone can do to stop six tons of an angry elephant. Fortunately, it was all over quickly,” the source said.
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‎The four tourists on the tour helped get Freeman into a vehicle and “rushed him to try and get medical attention, but nothing could be done,” the source said.
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‎“He had succumbed to his dreadful injuries,” the source said.
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‎A previous visitor to the 148,000-acre park said Freeman had a deep connection to elephants.
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‎“In the past, we have heard Gary speak of his deep respect and love for the elephants,” wrote Judy Connors of Johannesburg in a Facebook tribute.
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‎“He 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,” Connors said.
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‎Freeman graduated from college with a mechanical engineering degree but later became a ranger and ran the safari company he co-owned for 33 years.
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‎He co-founded Klaserie in 1969, when 36 farm owners merged to create one of South Africa’s biggest Big Five game reserves.
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‎Police in Limpopo have opened an inquest into the incident, and experts have been called in to assess whether the elephant poses a threat to others.
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‎Although elephant attacks are rare, between 300 and 600 people are killed by elephants annually, according to figures.
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