justaevolvedchimp1784253622

The shot intended to save his life is the exact thing that took it.

Veteran South African guide Theunis Botha, 51, led a hunting party into a herd of elephants near Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park. Botha opened fire. An elephant charged and grabbed him. In a chaotic bid to rescue him, a member of his party aimed at the animal and took a desperate shot.

The bullet hit its mark. But when an African bush elephant is fatally struck, it drops straight down. The massive momentum of the collapsing animal crushed the guide to death.

Botha ran a commercial safari company that catered to wealthy international tourists. News of the freak incident immediately polarized the internet, bitterly dividing those mourning a seasoned outdoorsman from those viewing the tragedy as the inevitable cost of trophy hunting.