Two elderly female tourists in Zambia were killed by an elephant Thursday while on a walking safari in a national park, police said, a year after two American women were killed in separate elephant attacks in the country.
Eastern Province Police Commissioner Robertson Mweemba said the victims — 68-year-old Easton Janet Taylor from the U.K. and 67-year-old Alison Jean Taylor from New Zealand — were attacked by a female elephant that was with a calf.
Safari guides who were with the group attempted to stop the elephant from charging at the women by firing shots at it, police said. The elephant was hit and wounded by the gunshots. The guides were unable to prevent the elephant’s attack and both women died at the scene, police said.
It happened at the South Luangwa National Park in eastern Zambia, around 370 miles from the capital, Lusaka.
Female elephants are very protective of their calves and can respond aggressively to what they perceive as threats.
Last year, two American tourists were killed — Juliana Gle Tourneau of New Mexico and Gail Mattson of Minnesota — in separate encounters with elephants in different parts of Zambia. In both cases, the tourists were also elderly women and were on a safari vehicle when they were attacked.
There have been deadly elephant attacks in other parts of the world in recent months.
In April, officials in Kenya said a 54-year-old man was killed by an elephant in the central part of the country.
In January, a tourist was killed by an elephant in South Africa’s famous Kruger Park.
That same month, police in Thailand said a “panic-stricken” elephant killed a Spanish tourist while she was bathing the animal at a sanctuary. The month before that, an elephant killed a 49-year-old woman at a national park in Loei province in northern Thailand.
Last July, a Spanish tourist was trampled to death by elephants after he left his fiancée in the car to take photos at a different game reserve in South Africa.