A tourist has sparked fury after he shockingly poured beer down an elephant’s trunk during a safari in Kenya.
Footage shows a Spanish man drinking a can of Tusker, a popular Kenyan beer, before emptying the rest down the bull elephant’s trunk at the Ol Jogi Conservancy wildlife reservation, in Laikipia County.
‘Just a tusker with a tusked friend,’ the man captioned the video on Instagram.
The elephant, named Bupa, has been identified because of its distinctive damaged tusk.
It was reportedly rescued from a mass cull in Zimbabwe in 1989 before being brought to the sanctuary aged eight.
In another video, the man is seen feeding two elephants with carrots and saying: ‘We are on beer time.’
The videos, posted by skydive_kenya on Instagram, have since been deleted after a flurry of angry comments.
The man describes himself as an ‘adrenaline junkie’ and has posted footage on Monday where he feeds rhinos with carrots at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy.
The beer stunt has caused outrage, with multiple investigations launched.
‘This should never have happened. We’re a conservation and we can’t allow that to happen,’ a staff member at the wildlife reserve told the BBC.
‘We don’t even allow people to go near the elephants.’
They added that the video would be handed to the ‘relevant authorities’.
The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) is also probing the incident.
Dr Winnie Kiiru, a Kenyan biologist and elephant conservationist, said the behaviour had endangered the elephant’s life.
‘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,’ she said.
Ol Jogi Conservancy is home to around 500 elephants and is a leading reservation in rehabilitating orphans before releasing them into the wild.
The beer fury follows more anger in Kenya over tourists behaviour towards animals.
Last week a group of tourists were recorded blocking wildebeests at the Maasai Mara Reserve during their annual migration.
Visitors jumped out of safari vehicles and crowded the riverbank, leaving less than a meter of space between them and the animals.
Some even forced the wildebeests back into the crocodile-infested river.
Kenya’s Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife quickly condemned the incident and said they would take legal action against tour operators who flout park rules as well as increasing ranger presence at sensitive migration points.
