If you have ever happened to have an itch in the most awkward situations and at the most awkward places, you will know how discomforting it can be. Hence, you will also know the amount of relief or rather satisfaction you get by getting rid of that itch. Well, a bull elephant at a South African national park safari also happened to have a similar inconvenience and wanted to scratch himself. While elephants normally use tree trunks, logs or rocks to scratch their body, this one chose a Volkswagen Polo to relieve himself of the pain.
The bull elephant was said to be on his musth period, wherein its testosterone levels reach 60 times than the normal figure. Apparently the Volkswagen Polo was the only thing he could find in the wilderness to scratch himself and scare the life out of the two occupants inside the car. Luckily though, the bull elephant only shook the car a lot, without harming the occupants. However, the Polo could not survive the impact and was left with all flat (rather ruptured) tyres, a broken chassis, dented roof and other body panels, and smashed windows as well as windscreen.
The onlookers and photographer Mr. Gobbler who witnessed the whole incident could do very little to save the occupants. With the high testosterone levels, the chances of the elephant becoming violent on being distracted were too high. While the incident left the occupants shaken by the incident, it could have ended in a much worse manner, probably depleting the Polo to scrap. Just to put it in perspective, the bull elephant weighs 7000 kgs in weight. That is almost seven times the weight of a standard Polo.
Once the bull elephant relieved himself, he walked away without harming anyone. The occupants just happened to be lucky to be alive and shocked at the same time. In the elephant’s defence, he just wanted to get rid of his itch, it’s not a crime. This also reiterates the saying; go mess with someone of your own size. Also make sure to check out the photos below, it appears as if he is cuddling the Polo out of love.
Source – Daily Mail