A soldier’s social media post says that an army base fire killed an elephant near Nanyuki, Kenya. A British soldier named Lewis reported on the social media site Snapchat that a fire started on an army base in Kenya killed a baby elephant. His claim is being investigated by military police. The post was flippant. Although he said that the troops were upset, he also wrote: “Hey-ho when in Rome”. Update: it is claimed that in all five elephants were killed including a baby.
It is reported that he was referring to a fire started 2 weeks ago when British troops fired mini-flares as part of their training. One flare started the fire. The soldiers believed that a small elephant may have been killed by it.
However, sources in the army have dismissed the claim. They said that no elephant was found and that the fire was very small and quickly extinguished.
A second fire covering around 10,000 acres has continued to rage around the army training base. It is believed to have been started by the troops of the 2nd Battalion the Mercian Regiment when they cooked lunch on a stove after a military exercise on Wednesday. It spread to dry grass and quickly got out of control.
The Times enquired for a comment. The response was that the MOD is investigating but that it would be inappropriate to comment further as the matter is being investigated. Military training has been suspended.
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