Cindy & Gordon Hooper 16 March 2021 gordon@gordonhooper.co.za +27 83 212 2739 (WhatsApp) Gauteng, South Africa For Immediate Release Press Release - SA Safety & Security Specialist Investigators Appointed To Probe Field Guide Death By Elephant S.A. Safety & Security specialist investigation firm and its leader, Mike Bolhuis, have been appointed by the parents of deceased Field Guide Sheldon Hooper to probe the causes and responsibilities leading to his death by elephant, and events occurring thereafter. On Tuesday 18 August 2020, Field Guide Sheldon Hooper was viciously attacked by an elephant at The River Lodge in The Thornybush Nature Reserve in Limpopo. The attack occurred a few minutes before 9 AM within the perimeter anti-elephant electric fence surrounding the lodge, in front of the top luxury Royal Suite. Sheldon incurred mortal injuries including a severed femoral artery, ruptured spleen and liver and a deep tusk wound through the upper left hand side of his chest which tore the arteries off his heart inducing massive internal bleeding into his chest cavity. He managed to call his girlfriend who was in bed in their room nearby. She, and others, attended to Sheldon’s injuries in vain. He died tragically 42 minutes later in her arms. The River Lodge is a privately owned upmarket guest establishment, with safari operations managed at the time of Sheldon’s death by the Thornybush Luxury Game Lodge Collection. The River Lodge is located in the Thornybush Nature Reserve Concession (TNR). A few hours after Sheldon’s death, management of all three organisations jointly developed a statement for release to the press. This statement was issued on the afternoon of his death and published the morning after. The press statement claimed that Sheldon was on a routine patrol inspecting the electric fence when he came across a herd of elephants inside the boundary fence and in all likelihood got too close to a calf thereby causing its mother to attack. The release claimed that the elephants had somehow gained access to the lodge surrounds despite the electrified boundary fence. 1|Page It did not take long for the validity of this press statement to be questioned, and proven entirely untrue. A detailed analysis of Sheldon’s WhatsApp timelines and emails, along with interviews with lodge employees revealed, amongst other things, the following facts:- 1. Sheldon was not on a routine fence inspection. Had he been, he would have been carrying tools and at very least a voltmeter. The only items found on his body were his cell phone and his regular pocketknife. 2. Management of the organisations involved were keenly aware of how the elephants were gaining access to the Lodge grounds. In the seven weeks leading up to Sheldon’s death, there were 15 documented fence malfunction reports and 10 reports of elephant breaching the fence made on various reporting platforms. 3. Also in the seven weeks preceding Sheldon’s death, there were 10 other adults and three children (aged 7, 4 and 2) attacked by elephants, with one female in particular singled out, within the safe area of the Lodge inside the surrounding anti-elephant electric fence. 4. One of the adults attacked was the operations manager for Thornybush Luxury Game Lodge Collection at the time. This victim was a senior member of the management team, and looked after the operations of 12 lodges within the company, including all aspects of guest and employee safety. The operations manager was attacked at 9:02 PM on 30 June 2020. He was in the company of two adult guests who had three small children in their company. They narrowly got away with their lives. This was the third attack within the Lodge grounds within a week. This manager chose to take no action to rectify the acutely developing problem animal situation. There would be another 7 attacks in the next six weeks, before Sheldon would be savagely killed. 5. Another victim was an employee of The River Lodge, Skattie Mathebula, who was repeatedly attacked only two hours before Sheldon at 6:55 AM on 18 August 2020 whilst moving between guest rooms on her regular housecleaning rounds. She managed to save herself by retreating into one of the guest rooms from where she photographed the attacking elephant. Sheldon was the 11th adult to be attacked in the seven-week period. Tragically, he didn’t make it. 2|Page 6. Sheldon was not alone when he was attacked, he was in the company of another employee of The River Lodge, Mishak “Seun” Machabi, who had assisted Skattie earlier that morning to get clear of the attacking elephants. It is understood that Seun informed Sheldon of the incident and the danger present yet again due to problem elephants in the camp on that morning. This concludes that there was nothing routine about the day, and in fact Sheldon and Seun were responding to a situation representing dire danger to the life of staff and guests. 7. Sheldon and Seun ventured out to assess the situation unarmed on account of no rifle being available for Field Guides to use when faced with a dangerous animal situation. Management had declined requests and recommendations from Field Guides to keep a business weapon on the premises. Sheldon was extremely well trained for such situations, and ordinarily would always carry a rifle if one was available. Because the Lodge refused to keep a business weapon on hand, Sheldon and Seun were unable to arm themselves, as would be normal practice in such a situation. 8. The River Lodge was operating at full capacity under Lockdown Level 3 rules notwithstanding that the laws of the nation banned the operation of lodges at this time, thereby exposing both staff and guests to a high risk of contracting Covid-19. Given that the Lodge was fully booked, Sheldon was put under pressure to see to the safety of both guests and staff members alike which was severely compromised by the continuous and repeated fence malfunctions and elephant attacks, which in turn were well-known to management. The Hooper family, with the support of others, have spent the better part of the past six months gathering a host of information about the events leading up to the fatal incident, as well as the many unfortunate and untruthful claims made by management directly after the fatal incident and in the months that followed. After careful consideration and re-evaluation of everything, we, Sheldon’s parents have decided to seek the best possible opportunity to achieve justice in this matter by appointing Mike Bolhuis and SA Safety & Security Specialist investigators (SSS) who are well-known and experienced in matters of serious violent, economic and criminal matters. 3|Page Specifically, SSS have been appointed to reinvestigate, and further investigate, the causes of Sheldon’s death and those responsible for it, as well as any potential attempts to conceal evidence, fabricate evidence or tamper with witnesses. SSS have been briefed to completely and totally take the necessary actions and drastic steps, leaving no stone unturned, to achieve justice by prosecuting organisations and people who had any part in, or responsibility for, Sheldon’s death, or obstructing the course of justice in this respect. Sheldon’s parents ask that if the reader, or if any of the parties involved get to read this, could they please give their full cooperation to Mike Bolhuis or S.S.S. Investigating Officer Vince Harris (contact details below). His parents also ask that readers forward this request on to anybody they think may be interested in, or able to help in this investigation. Sheldon’s parents realise that they are not the only people in a similar or equal situation and that there are many others in South Africa and abroad who suffer similar losses, without justice. The family are adamant that justice should prevail, and strong lessons be learned to prevent similar unnecessary deaths happening again. Mike Bolhuis: +27 82 447 6116 Vince Harris: +27 82 673 1830 4|Page
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