A TOURIST has been slammed after a shocking video emerged of him feeding an elephant a beer.
The man filmed himself drinking from a can of Tusker beer, before pouring the beverage into the trunk of a bull elephant.
Instagram/@skydive_kenyaFootage of a man feeding beer to an elephant has sparked outrage[/caption]
Instagram/@skydive_kenyaThe man was filmed feeding the elephant directly from a Tusker beer can[/caption]
Captioned: “Just a tusker with a tusked friend”, the man emptied the popular Kenyan beer into the elephant’s trunk.
The elephant – named Bupa – was identified by the distinctive damage on his tusks.
Bupa was rescued from a mass cull in Zimbabwe in 1989 before being brought to the sanctuary when he was just eight years old.
The video of the Spanish tourist boozing it up with Bupa was not his only controversial post.
In a second video, he could be seen feeding elephants with carrots, captioned: “we are on beer time”.
The self-proclaimed “adrenaline junkie” has sparked outrage at the Kenyan safari reserve and online.
He has deleted the video after receiving angry backlash.
Staff from the Ol Jogi Conservancy wildlife reservation, in Laikipia County told the BBC “it should never have happened”.
“We’re a conservation and we can’t allow that to happen,” a spokesperson said.
“We don’t even allow people to go near the elephants.”
Multiple investigations have been launched since the video was reported, with the Kenya Wildlife Service leading the charge.
Dr Winnie Kiiru – a Kenyan biologist and elephant conservationist – said the man’s behaviour endangered Bupa’s life.
“About 95 per cent of elephants in Kenya are wild,” she said.
“It is wrong to have social media posts that give the impression that you can get close to the elephants and feed them.”
The sanctuary is home to around 500 elephants and is a leading reservation in rehabilitating orphans, before releasing them back to wild.
The beer ordeal comes a week after a group of tourists were filmed blocking the annual migration of wildebeests at the Maasai Mara Reserve.
ReutersWildebeests were blocked by tourists on their annual migration last week[/caption]
The visitors were seen exiting the safari vehicles an crowding the riverbank, less than a metre away from the wild animals.
Some wildebeests were forced back into the crocodile -infested river.
Kenya’s Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife has condemned the incident and said they would take legal action against tour operators breaking park rules.
The ministry also said they would increase ranger presence in sensitive migration areas.
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