A Kenya-based occurrence has outraged people worldwide, involving a tourist pouring beer into an elephant’s trunk.

Investigations have been launched following a Spanish man’s actions of pouring beer down an elephant’s trunk in Kenya, sparking anger on social media. The man was filmed drinking from a can of Tusker, a popular local beer, and sharing it with the elephant at a wildlife reservation. He captioned the clip, which was later removed from his account due to backlash from Kenyans in the comments. The BBC verified the footage as genuine, identifying the Ol Jogi Conservancy in the central county of Laikipia as the filming location. Staff at the privately-owned wildlife sanctuary expressed shock at the behavior and stated that the videos would be reported to the authorities. Submitting the videos for analysis, a spokesperson from the Kenya Wildlife Service confirmed that an investigation was underway. The man, known by the username Skydive_Kenya on social media, posted another video showing him feeding two elephants carrots before saying, “We are on beer time.” Outrage on Instagram grew, with some calling for his deportation before the posts were taken down. The elephant in the video, known as Bupa, was rescued from a mass elephant cull in Zimbabwe in 1989 and brought to the conservancy at the age of eight. The Ol Jogi Conservancy is home to 500 elephants and specializes in rehabilitating animal orphans before releasing them back into the wild. The man also violated rules at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy by feeding a rhino, and zoo staff confirmed it. Animal conservationist Dr. Winnie Kiiru condemned the tourist’s actions as dangerous to both the man and the elephant. Kenya experienced a similar wildlife-related incident recently when tourists blocked migrating wildebeests at the Maasai Mara during the annual wildlife migration, sparking outrage. In response, the tourism and wildlife ministry introduced stricter rules, enforcing visitors to remain inside vehicles except in designated areas and enhancing education on safety rules.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjeyjep9pw3o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss