A tourist from New Mexico was killed in Zambia when an elephant attacked her, according to the police commissioner investigating the incident. She is the second tourist to be fatally attacked by an elephant in the South African country this year.
The woman who was killed, Juliana G. Letourneau, 64, of Albuquerque, had just visited Victoria Falls, a 350-foot waterfall that straddles the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe, and was returning to her hotel on Wednesday when her travel group encountered a herd of elephants on the road.
She and others got out of their vehicle to observe the animals, Auxensio Daka, the police commissioner for Zambia’s southern province, said in a phone interview Saturday.
“They stopped to watch the elephants and unfortunately one of them charged towards them as they were standing there watching,” Mr Dhaka said.
Mr Dhaka said Ms Letourneau was taken to a clinic in Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park near Livingstone, Zambia, where she was pronounced dead on arrival. Her injuries included deep lacerations to her right shoulder blade and forehead, a fractured left ankle and a slightly compressed chest, according to a police statement.
No other injuries were reported from the encounter with the elephant.
Her brother, Mr. Letourneau, said on Saturday that he did not have details of the incident and declined to be interviewed. Other relatives could not be contacted.
Last March, a 79-year-old American woman was on safari in Kafue National Park, in a central region of western Zambia, when an elephant charged the tour group’s vehicle, according to media reports.
However, human deaths are rare in elephant encounters, experts say.
“This is truly a horrific accident,” said Nikhil Advani, senior director at the World Wildlife Fund, a nonprofit organization that works on environmental protection and conservation efforts, of the two incidents occurring so close together. “It’s probably just kind of a confluence of unfortunate circumstances that led to this.”
The US State Department said in a statement on Friday that millions of Americans travel to wildlife areas each year and that it is unusual for elephants and other wildlife to attack visitors to Zambia.
Ms Letourneau’s death was first reported by the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation, a government-controlled news outlet, which reported that human-wildlife encounters in Livingstone, the town where the incident happened, were on the rise amid the country’s worst drought in four decades.
Climate conditions are exacerbating food insecurity in Zambia, which has one of the highest rates of malnutrition in sub-Saharan Africa, and pushing wildlife into human habitats in search of food and water, according to the report.
Tourism in the protected wildlife areas, which cover about a third of Zambia, and the numerous lakes and rivers and green valleys contributes a significant share of the national economy.
Joyce Poole, co-founder and co-director of ElephantVoices, a nonprofit that researches elephant behavior, said keeping a distance from elephants is the best way to keep tourists safe. He added that sometimes there can be a “culture of aggression” that comes from the history of an elephant region, such as in Mozambique’s Gorongosa National Park, which saw decades of war and poaching in the 20th century.
“The elephants responded in a certain way to the vehicles,” Dr Poole said of her research findings from Gorongosa. “This behavior was then observed by younger elephants, imitated by younger elephants, and sort of passed down through families.” There have been multiple poaching crises in Zambia, he noted.
Dr Poole said finding “a reliable company and drivers who aren’t just racing to get the best shot” would be a good way for visitors to ensure safety.
Visitors to wilderness areas should also be careful and admire the animals from a distance, experts say.
“As with all wild animals, if you keep a safe distance from them, they don’t want to bother you or interact with you,” Dr Advani said.
