Shock moment cruel villager pulls stricken injured elephant’s tail for a joke – before being trampled to DEATH by beast

THIS is the moment a cruel villager pulls an injured elephant’s tail as part of a dare – before being trampled to death.

Klaudia Mwaala, 46, was with seven other residents who had followed the trail of the stricken male elephant after it had been shot the night before for raiding village crops.

Klaudia Mwaala, 46, was dared to pull the tail of the injured elephant

She was seen bothering the injured animal multiple times before it reacted

Another villager joined in on dare, also pulling the elephant’s tail

She was seen running away from the animal while laughing, before it trampled her to death

In a video taken by one of Mwaala’s friends, the group of Namibian villagers can be seen finding the bull elephant lying on its side with a serious bullet wound to its leg.

The group, thinking the beast was helpless, giggled as they laid out the dare – tug the tail.

Mwaala can then be seen approaching the six-ton beast from behind – which had lain down to rest near the Omugulugombashe village in the Omusati region – and posed for a souvenir video.

She then slapped the animal’s bum twice before it raised its head.

Feeling brave, she grabbed the elephant’s tail and gave it a hard tug, before running away and laughing for the camera.

A second person, wearing a red shirt, also approached the injured creature and pulled its tail, causing the elephant to stand up.

Later, the group believed the elephant to be dead after another villager reportedly shot the animal a second time.

She crept around to the head and tusks of the animal to take a selfie.

Suddenly – the elephant’s eyes opened and it quickly struggled to its feet, leaving the villagers cowering before it.

Mwaala tried to run, but the elephant quickly gained on her, before her high-pitched screams were heard.

After the elephant left the village, locals found Mwaala’s body crushed on the ground.

Local Delwin Buchane posted about the horrific ordeal on Facebook.

“The elephant had gone quiet and the people thought it had died and about three or four crept forward to take selfies with it,” he wrote.

“Then this woman went right up to it and turned to take a selfie … but it suddenly let out a loud and angry snorting and got up onto its feet.”

Buchane said she had tried to run, but stumbled and fell in the seconds before disaster.

“She let out a loud scream as it began to trample her,” he said.

She was seen sneaking up to the stricken animal in a video posted to social media

It attempted to get up a first time after the man in the red short pulled its tail

“Then there was absolute silence. Nobody could do anything. It was bad.”

The Department of Environment has launched an investigation into the terrifying incident.

Officers made the decision to euthanize the badly injured animal.

The wounded bull had been highly stressed, leaving it in an extremely dangerous and agitated state, according to the department.

Vilho Hangula – a spokesperson for the Department of Environment – said normally when a villager is killed by a wild animal, the family is provided with £4,600 (N$100,000) in compensation, or £2,300 for the loss of a limb.

Hangula said the investigation remained ongoing, but indicated that due to the video evidence of Mwaala’s death, her family “would not be a case for compensation”.

He said the department didn’t consider the animal to be at fault for the tragic death.

Other villagers later spoke to local media.

“The lady was just blood trampled into the jungle bush and was long beyond any possible help,” one person said of the aftermath.

Mwaala was a mother-of-four.

Her husband Festus Lipinge, 49, said she had been a “good woman” and a “good mother”.

“This is all very hard to understand,” he said.

“Mwaala was very peaceful and she was devoted to our four children,” he added.

Witness Johannes Paulus said he had been there when the group first started to agitate the animal.

“We kept following the elephant and later another villager shot it again and it collapsed,” he said.

“Mwaala thought it was dead and went to it to touch its head as others took pictures.

“The elephant stood up and made a sound and she tried to flee, but unfortunately she fell on her back and that is when the elephant attacked her and trampled her.

Paulus said “she died on the spot”.

“It was too much to bear seeing someone you know being killed like that.”

Mwaala’s sister said the Department of Environment should “do more to protect villagers when the elephants raid crops during the rainy season”.

People online have been less sympathetic.

One person wrote: “You provoked the elephant. It was injured and you pulled its tail and slapped it”.

“This day you went looking for your ancestors and you found them.”

Another said: “That elephant was only defending itself. All you wanted was your photo taken.”

An estimated 500 people are killed in Africa every year by elephants, often due to the shrinking forest habitats and human/elephant conflicts over water and food.

An African bull elephant has an average height of 9.8 feet and weighs seven tonnes.

They can also run 25 mph.

A century ago, there were an estimated 10 million elephants in the wild, but now it is believed only 415,000 survive.