ELEPHANT Sanctuary owner Chris Kruger yesterday spent about R5 000 and his entire morning buying up every copy of The Herald newspaper he could find in Plettenberg Bay and Knysna.

Kruger’s efforts, confirmed by a number of shop owners who recognised him, were apparently an attempt to stop locals from reading a report about an elephant handler gored in the chest by an eight-year-old female at the Elephant Sanctuary in The Crags on Monday.

Although Kruger confirmed the incident in a statement to The Herald on Tuesday, he could not be reached yesterday for comment on his newspaper buying spree.

The Herald staff found about 1 000 copies of the newspaper where Kruger dumped them at the Plett waste recycling plant early yesterday afternoon.

Workers at the plant said he arrived with his car boot full of “fresh” newspapers.

The Herald’s offices were earlier inundated by calls from irate readers who said they had been unable to find copies.

Bemused shop owners laughed when asked what had happened to all the copies.

“You won’t find a Herald anywhere in Plett today, Chris took them all,” said one shop manager who asked to remain anonymous.

Several hundred newspapers were retrieved from the dump and redistributed free of charge yesterday afternoon.

The injured handler, whose name was not revealed by the Elephant Sanctuary, was yesterday said to be in a stable condition in Knysna Private Hospital’s high care facility.

A hospital spokesperson said the man was admitted on Monday with “some punctures” in the chest area and suffered “some damage to his ribs and lungs”. The man was expected to remain in hospital for some time.

Kruger had described the incident as “an accident” and said an investigation by staff found no malicious intent on the part of the elephant.

Kruger said the Elephant Owners’ Association was also investigating.

“The incident occurred when the young elephant cow pushed past a handler who was in the elephant’s path and the handler got injured in the process.”

Kruger said the sanctuary’s elephants were being taken on their regular feeding in the bush on Monday morning when the man was injured.

“The elephant handler was with the young female when she unexpectedly moved towards the rest of the herd, unfortunately injuring the handler who was in the way. Elephants brush and push against each other all the time and in this instance the handler got caught out of position.”

Kruger said the handler was keen to get back to his animals. “He has been working with the herd ... and the young elephant cow that accidentally injured him for the past five years.”

There were no guests present at the time. Kruger said it was the first such incident at the sanctuary since the facility opened five years ago. — By NEIL and JANINE OELOFSE, The Herald, Avusa Group News