A poacher sneaking up on rhinos was ambushed by a herd of elephants and trampled to death.
Two men with high-powered rifles and an axe broke into Kruger National Park in South Africa looking for a £10,000 payday.
But the white rhino herd had been following a water source with a group of nearby African elephants sheltering from the harsh sun under trees.
As the pair closed in on the rhinos, the elephants broke cover and charged them.
A Kruger National Park source said: ‘The two ran in different directions, but the one lining up the shot was the slowest to his feet, and the elephants went for him.
‘He was quickly overrun, and the elephants trampled him into the earth, and all that we found was basically a very large bloodstain around the clothing he was in.’
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The other poacher managed to escape but was quickly arrested by park officials.
‘Elephants are extremely intelligent and, as people say, they never forget and may well have witnessed poachers before sneaking up on rhinos and went to protect them,’ the spokesperson added.
There are some 1850 white rhinos in the Kruger National Park, which is the same size as Wales and home to the Big 5: elephant, rhino, buffalo, lion and leopard.
Last year 175 rhinos were shot dead by poachers for their horns, which can earn them fortunes and, once exported, can be worth 20 times as much.
The horns are highly prized in oriental medicine to be sold in potions as ‘magic cures’.
The survivor has been handed over to the South African Police to face trial.
The alert was raised at the Pafuri Ranger Lodge, and rangers hiked 6km inland to near a river where they found the body close to the rhino herd.
There was little sympathy on Facebook, with one person writing: ‘The elephants are the gatekeepers! I wish the hyenas got to them after they did.’
Another added: ‘Elephants have done justice for the targeted rhinos! Big ups to the elephant family for helping the game rangers do their job out there.’
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