In 1986, Peter Davies was on holiday in Kenya after
graduating from Louisiana State University .
On a hike through the bush, he
came across a young bull elephant standing with one
leg raised in the air.
The elephant seemed distressed, so Peter approached it
very carefully.
He got down on one knee, inspected the elephants foot, and
found a large piece of wood deeply embedded in it. As carefully and as gently
as he could, Peter worked the wood out with his knife, after which the elephant
gingerly put down its foot.
The elephant turned to face the man and with a
rather curious look on its face, stared at him for several tense moments.
Peter
stood frozen, thinking of nothing else but being trampled.
Eventually the
elephant trumpeted loudly, turned and walked away.
Peter never forgot that
elephant or the events of that day. Twenty years later, Peter was walking
through the Chicago Zoo with his teenaged son. As they approached the elephant
enclosure, one of the creatures turned and walked over to near where Peter and
his son Cameron were standing. The large bull elephant stared at Peter, lifted
its front foot off the ground, then put it down. The elephant did that several
times then trumpeted loudly, all the while staring at the man.
Remembering the
encounter in 1986, Peter could not help wondering if this was the same
elephant.
Peter summoned up his courage, climbed over the railing and made his
way into the enclosure.
He walked right up to the elephant and stared back in
wonder.
The elephant trumpeted again, wrapped its trunk around one of Peter
legs and slammed him against the railing, killing him instantly.
Probably
wasn't the same elephant.
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