Let’s be honest for a second. We like to pretend we are in charge. We build big cities, pave over the dirt, sit in air-conditioned rooms, and stare at screens. We think we have beaten the world. But in the grand scheme of **human-wildlife conflict**, we are not safe. We are never safe. We are just soft, slow meat in a world full of sharp teeth and heavy feet.

Nature is not your friend. Nature is not a Disney movie. Nature is a trap. It waits for you to make a mistake, or even just to relax. And just when you think you have solved one problem, it throws a bigger, hungrier problem right in your face.

Look at this recent tragedy in southern Africa. It is a horrific event, sure, but it is also the perfect example of how the universe actually works. A fisherman was out doing his job. He was just trying to catch some fish with two friends, minding his own business, when a **herd of elephants** showed up.

Now, elephants are big. They are huge. When a massive terrestrial mammal comes charging at you, you do not argue. You do not try to reason with them. You run. It is the only smart thing to do. If you stay, you get stomped flat. So, this guy did the smart thing. He utilized his **survival instinct** and ran away from the big, gray death machines.

He saw a stream. Water usually means safety. Animals run into water to get away from things on land; it is an old instinct. Get in the water, hide, catch your breath. He probably thought he was lucky. He probably thought, “Wow, that was close. I almost got crushed by an elephant, but I made it to the water. I am safe now.”

He was wrong. Dead wrong.

Because nature is cruel. While he was escaping one danger, a **Zambia crocodile attack** was initiated in the stream. The elephants were the hammer. The crocodile was the anvil. The poor guy jumped into the water to save his life, and the crocodile took it instead.

Think about the bad luck involved here. It is almost funny, if it wasn't so awful. You have to deal with a herd of angry elephants. That should be enough bad luck for one day. That should be your quota. But no. The universe said, “Let’s add a dinosaur with a hunger problem.”

This is the illusion of choice. We think we have options. We think if we run from the bad thing, we will find a good thing. But usually, we just run from one bad thing into the mouth of a worse thing.

It is just like real life for the rest of us. It is just like politics. Think about it. You have the Left on one side. They are like the elephants. They are loud. They move in a herd. They want to trample everything that doesn't move with them. They make a lot of noise and take up all the space.

So you get scared. You run away from the elephants. You run toward the Right. You think, “Okay, these guys are different. I will be safe here.” But the Right is just the crocodile. They are hiding just under the surface. They wait until you are desperate. They wait until you have no other place to go. And then—snap. You are gone.

There is no winning. The fisherman did not have a good choice. Stay on land? Get crushed. Jump in the water? Get eaten. That is the human condition. We are constantly choosing between getting crushed or getting eaten.

We vote for the guy who promises to lower taxes, and he cuts our services. We vote for the guy who promises to help the poor, and he raises our rent. We quit the job with the boss who yells, and we get a new job with a boss who lies.

We run from the herd, and we jump into the jaws.

This story from Zambia hits hard because it is true. It is raw. There is no spin here. No politician can fix this. No rich CEO can buy his way out of this. If you are standing between a herd of elephants and a hungry crocodile, your bank account does not matter. Your opinions do not matter.

Nature looks at us and sees lunch. That is it. We walk around with our phones and our coffee cups, thinking we are the masters of the earth. But we are just visitors. And we are very rude visitors. We make a mess. We are loud. And eventually, the house takes us back.

So, spare a thought for the fisherman. He played the game. He made the logical move. He tried to survive. But the deck was stacked. The game was rigged from the start. Just like it is for you. Just like it is for me. Watch your step today. If the elephants don't get you, the crocodile is waiting.

***

### References & Fact-Check * **Event Confirmation**: This commentary is based on verified reports regarding a fisherman in Zambia who was attacked by a crocodile after fleeing a herd of elephants in the Kazungula district. * **Original Report**: [Fisherman fleeing elephants killed by crocodile in Zambia (BBC News)](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czx1xl98qkpo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss) * **Context**: Incidents of human-wildlife conflict are increasingly common in regions like the Kafue River and Zambezi River basins due to overlapping habitats.