Elephant chases Arnold Schwarzenegger in South Africa safari

With African elephants, you either kill the elephant as what an Australian MP did or be trampled by the beast. It was the second scenario that actor Arnold Schwarzenegger avoided during a safari in South Africa.

The former California governor, known for his Terminator movie character, was charged by an elephant while on a safari in Johannesburg, reports The Telegraph. In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Schwarzenegger writes, “I couldn’t have written this safari encounter better if it was a movie. I’m absolutely in awe of these beautiful, strong animals, even though some of us had to change our pants after this.”

He continues, “We need to stop killing them – take a photo, not a shoot. Would you rather be able to experience these creatures or a hunk of ivory? I thought so.”

The post came with a 54-second video that has become viral on both Facebook with 1.8 million views and YouTube with over 250,000 hits in one day. On Instagram, it had more than 282,000 views, reports Yahoo.

Upon encountering the animal aboard a jeep, the elephant initially backed away and went on the rough side of the road. Schwarzenegger continued to film the elephant which went behind the vehicle and then starts charging after them.

Because of his advocacy of not killing elephants – which is the opposite of the stand of New South Wales MP Robert Borsak – a lot of commenters on the former governor’s post gave their thumbs up to the Terminator.

Ryan Ancona describes trophy hunters and poachers as sick people. Tebogo Matshediso writes, “I wish you could come fully loaded like in COMMANDO accompanied by a T1000 to South Africa to protect our endangered species, at the rate of poaching experienced here, there won’t be much to see in the near future.”

Rob Wilshaw, who considers the actor his childhood hero, states, “You are truly the man!” South Africa resident Jessie Sene thanks Schwarzenegger and adds, “Fuck all those hunters and poachers stop killing our elephants, rhino, lions, leopards, leave our wildlife alone.”

Nitika Khandelwal and Garry Stocks share separate experiences of being charged by an elephant in the same place and in Sri Lanka, respectively, but not either of them were harmed by the large animal.

Mitch Gertz tells the Terminator, “I’m glad you showed you’re human, and didn’t scream like a girl … We need to protect them for our grandchildren to see.”