Elephant Attacks Truck After Getting Rear-Ended, Killing Zimbabwe Lawmaker Desire Moyo

It’s fall, which means you really have to keep an eye out for deer in the road, but depending on where you’re driving, you also have to keep an eye out for elk, moose, bison, bear and the occasional cow that got loose. But as much damage as those animals can do, at least in the U.S. we don’t have to worry about elephants. As the BBC reports, on Friday, five Zimbabwean members of parliament found out the hard way that hitting an elephant is seriously bad news, with one MP, Desire Moyo, ultimately dying from his injuries. 

According to the BBC, Moyo was traveling in a truck (that appears to be a Toyota Hilux) with four other MPs on the Bulawayo-Gweru highway when they hit an elephant. Initial reports claim Moyo died instantly, while the other MPs were injured, but based on one MP’s account, it wasn’t the damage from the initial crash that took his life. Instead, it was the damage from the elephant attack that followed. As MP Discent Bajila told ZimLive:

I spoke to Honourable Ndebele, who was in the front passenger seat. His recollection is that they hit the elephant on its backside. After the impact, he remembers the elephant turning round and fighting the vehicle. This, he believes, is what did the most damage on the top right side of the vehicle and ultimately led to Honourable Moyo’s fatal injuries.

Since the crash just happened this morning, we don’t really know what led to their collision with the elephant, but the BBC reports the crash took place in an area with a known elephant presence. Zimbabwe also has a high population of elephants in general, and a fully grown male African elephant can easily weigh more than a GMC Hummer EV. Zimbabwe has also been working hard to reduce the number of humans killed by wildlife, including elephants, and does appear to have made significant progress in recent years. 

In September of last year, ZimParks director-general Dr. Fulton Mangwanya announced that 31 people had been killed by wildlife in 2024, which is still less than ideal, but it marked an improvement over the 50 deaths through the same period in 2023 and less than half of the 67 people killed in 2022. “Human, crop and livestock destruction not only reduces incomes but also affects livelihoods and our people’s abilities to feed their families,” Dr. Mangwanya told Zimbabwe’s Herald Online. “Our shared goal is to find pathways that mitigate conflicts while promoting the conservation of wildlife and the well-being of human communities.”

Moyo was a member of Zimbabwe’s center-left Citizens Coalition for Change party representing the Nkulumane Constituency in the city of Bulawayo. Until his death, he served on the parliament’s sport, recreation, arts and culture committee. He was also an “award-winning poet, educator and arts administrator,” with Bulawayo Mayor David Coltart telling the BBC that Moyo would be “remembered as an ‘iconic leader … and creative’ who ‘strove to champion the arts’ in the city and beyond.” Moyo’s death also came the day before his 46th birthday.