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A Spanish man who gave a bull elephant beer in Kenya has caused outrage on social media and prompted the launch of investigations.
In the video, the man was seen in a wildlife sanctuary drinking a can of local beer, Tusker, before giving the rest to the elephant.
Theclip, which was posted on Instagram and later deleted after backlash in the comments, was captioned “just a tusker with a tusked friend”, the BBC reported.
The Ol Jogi Conservancy told the outlet that it condemned the incident, which occurred at the wildlife sanctuary last year.
A member of the staff said: “This should never have happened. We’re a conservation sanctuary and we can’t allow that to happen.
“We don’t even allow people to go near the elephants.”
The sanctuary, which is home to about 500 elephants, said it treated cases similar to the one posted “extremely seriously” and remained committed to the wellbeing and dignity of its animals.
The video, which sparked anger online, has since been deleted. Photo / @nexta_tv
The Kenya Wildlife Service was also investigating the incident, it told the BBC.
Kenyan biologist and elephant conservationist Dr Winnie Kiiru told the BBC the tourist’s behaviour endangered his and the elephant’s lives.
“About 95% of elephants in Kenya are wild, and it is wrong to have social media posts that give the impression that you can get close to the elephants and feed them.”
The elephant, which was given the beer, was confirmed to be a friendly male named Bupa.
It was brought to the sanctuary when it was 8 years old after being rescued from an elephant cull in Zimbabwe in 1989.
The yet-to-be-identified man has posted other controversial videos on his social media accounts, including a second video where he was seen feeding carrots to elephants, captioned “we are on beer time”.
Both videos drew hundreds of critical comments before they were deleted from his accounts, which are all named some variation of skydive_kenya.
The incident comes a week after a group of tourists caused outrage when they were filmed blocking the path of migrating wildebeest at the Maasai Mara Reserve in Kenya.
Visitors exited safari vehicles and crowded riverbanks, which forced some animals back into the crocodile-infested river, the viral footage showed.
In Maasai Mara, a group of tourists jumped out of their safari vehicles and crowded the riverbank to watch the wildebeest migration—blocking their path so badly that the animals were forced to turn back and leap into the river again.pic.twitter.com/BwXjT8TPaA
Kenya’s Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife condemned the incident and announced stricter rules to make sure tour operators follow park regulations requiring visitors to stay in vehicles except for in designated areas, the BBC reported.
It also said signage across wildlife parks would be increased and education for visitors on safety rules would intensify, according to the outlet.
