Elephant tries to rip off a woman's bikini in hilarious footage…but viewers call out the 'victim' for staging the stunt

Elephant tries to rip off a woman's bikini in hilarious footage…but viewers call out the 'victim' for staging the stunt

This is the moment an elephant appears to try to remove a woman's bikini after she stands right next to it at a safari park. 

Self-proclaimed Instagram model Francia James claims she was groped by the 9,000-pound African elephant at Myrtle Beach safari park in South Carolina.

However, the 34-year-old female tusker may have been drawn to a smell on the woman's torso.

Some viewers have criticised Ms James for posting the shot, saying they 'don't understand' why the mammal was used to 'promote her body'. 

Footage shows Ms James walking up to the behemoth, that was rescued after her herd was killed by poachers, wearing only a bikini in order to stroke it. 

However, the tusker immediately appears to be more interested in the scent of something on her body.

Feigning surprise at the intrusion, Ms James jumps away in apparent shock with a large smile on her face.

Talking about the encounter, she said: ’The trunk felt just like a large man's hand with a high powered vacuum attached!’

While some viewers said the animal deserved a 'high five', others were less convinced.

One said online: 'I don't understand why you have to film animals to promote your body'.

A second branded the video a 'fake'.

And a third said Ms James had been 'silly'.

On its website the zoo said the elephant, called Bubbles, was rescued in the early 1980s when her herd was killed for their ivory.

She was one of the few that survived, they said.