Tourist sparks anger for pouring beer down elephant’s trunk in Kenya

Investigations are under way after a Spanish tourist sparked anger for pouring beer down an elephant’s trunk in Kenya.

The incident took place at the privately owned Ol Jogi Conservancy wildlife sanctuary in Laikipia county, reported the BBC on Aug 29.

A video posted on the man’s Instagram account – which has since been deleted – showed him drinking from a can of Tusker, a popular local beer, before giving the rest of it to the bull elephant.

“Just a tusker with a tusked friend,” he wrote in the caption.

In another video, he is seen feeding two elephants with carrots and saying: “We are on beer time.”

Both clips were immediately flooded with angry comments from Kenyans, with some calling for his deportation, before the posts were deleted.

An Ol Jogi staff member expressed shocked over the incident and told the BBC that copies of the videos would be passed on to “the relevant authorities”.

“This should never have happened,” the staff member was quoted as saying. “We’re a (conservancy) and we can’t allow that to happen.

“We don’t even allow people to go near the elephants.”

The Kenya Wildlife Service told the BBC it is probing the incident.

Kenyan biologist and elephant conservationist Winnie Kiiru described the man’s actions as “unfortunate” as they would have endangered his life as well as that of the elephants.

“About 95 per cent 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 told the BBC.

Ol Jogi says it is home to Grevy’s zebras, white rhinos and about 500 elephants. It regards itself as one of the pioneers in rehabilitating orphan animals and releasing them back into the wild.