According to Reddit, karma involves the approval of the website’s most active readers with the use of either up or down arrows. It has all to do with personal preference, and little to do with the word’s Hindu and Buddhist referents. The latter definition found a real-world example in the fate that befell a big game hunter in Zimbabwe on Wednesday.
The Telegraph reports that an American hunter named Ian Gibson was trampled to death by a young bull elephant while tracking a lion in the Zambezi Valley.
“We don’t yet know the full details of how ‘Gibbo’ as we called him, died, as the American client and the trackers are still too traumatised to give us full details,” said Paul Smith, managing director of Chifuti Safaris’ which employed Mr Gibson for the hunt.
The American hunter was on his first trip to Zimbabwe, and only has one leg, but was “fit and strong” and had already shot a leopard. Mr Gibson was scouting for lions when he encountered the elephant.
The nature of what befell Gibson remains unclear, though the karmic interpretation of his end reached social media in record time.
Whilst hunting for lions, a big game hunter in Zimbabwe was crushed to death by a bull elephant.
'Scuse me while I laugh hysterically.
— Daz (@Dollar1075) April 19, 2015
Just heard about the hunter killed by an elephant in Zimbabwe today. Really hope the elephant posts a posed photo on his Facebook page.
— Justin Root (@JustinWRoot) April 19, 2015
Of course, Gibson was also a renowned wildlife photographer and conservationist, so the news of his death hit hard for many in environmentalist circles.
(Via The Telegraph)