A BIG-GAME hunter was crushed to death by an elephant that had been shot, according to reports in South Africa.

The Netwerk24 website said an elephant cow stormed a group headed by Theunis Botha in Zimbabwe on Friday.

The elephant was reportedly shot as she picked him up with her trunk, before she fell and died, crushing Botha. He had been leading a group of hunters near the Hwange national park in Zimbabwe when he died.

It is the same park where Cecil the Lion was shot dead by an American hunter in July 2015, sparking an international outcry.

Botha, 51, was a father of five from the northern Limpopo province in South Africa. His eldest daughter Marike confirmed her father’s death to the BBC, but would not comment further on the circumstances of his death.

Botha’s website says he began leading hunting safaris on private ranches in 1989, having previously served as a sergeant in the South African infantry.

It said he specialised in hunting lions and leopards with dogs.

His website lists various packages available to hunters in Zimbabwe, noting that animals including leopards, giraffes, buffalo and elephants could be hunted.

A Facebook tribute by Zimbabwe-based Kuronda Safaris, which worked with Botha, called him "a great man with a fantastic sense of humour.”

South African media reported that Botha was friends with fellow hunter Scott Van Zyl, whose remains were found in a crocodile last month.

Van Zyl was killed on the banks of the Limpopo river in Zimbabwe in what was the latest in a series of fatal crocodile attacks in the country.

Agencies