[Mand meru]

Jamaa thought the elephant was like his pet dog.



Elephant gores, kills tourist
Man had approached elephant's baby
Tuesday, April 19, 2005 Posted: 1508 GMT (2308 HKT)



It swung him around, hitting him on the trunk of a thick tree.
-- Wildlife park worker

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KAMPALA, Uganda (Reuters) -- An elephant gored a tourist to death in a Ugandan national park after the man, carrying an 8-year-old boy in his arms, approached the animal's calf, wildlife officials said on Tuesday.

The elephant used its trunk to hurl the man into a tree, before stamping on him and spearing him with its tusks in Murchison Falls National Park. The 28-year-old man threw the child to safety.

"The tourists were with our ranger, but they alighted from their vehicles and approached quite a huge herd," Ugandan Wildlife Authority (UWA) spokeswoman Lillian Nsubuga said.

"He says he tried to dissuade them from going closer."

Female elephants are fiercely protective of anything they perceive as a threat to their young.

Tens of thousands of holidaymakers visit Uganda every year, drawn by the east African country's rich wildlife and stunning national parks. Animal attacks are very rare.

Nsubuga said game drives were very safe, but illegal hunting had made elephants in Murchison and Uganda's other parks wary of people approaching on foot.

"They have usually been disturbed by poachers, who move on foot, so they become hostile," she told Reuters.

Murchison Falls, 300 km (186 miles) northwest of the capital Kampala, is Uganda's biggest park.

Sunday's attack took place during a game drive near Nyamsika Cliff, overlooking the Victoria Nile near the falls where it flows into Lake Albert.

Six of the tourists, said by authorities to be Ugandans of Indian origin, left their cars and began photographing an elephant and calf.

A park worker told the state-owned New Vision newspaper the elephant charged at the man before picking him up, stepping on him and piercing his stomach with its tusks.

"It swung him around, hitting him on the trunk of a thick tree," he told the paper.

The man was dead by the time a rescue team arrived.

Nsubuga said it was not immediately clear whether the boy - who was unhurt - was his son or not. The family returned to Kampala, she said, where the man's body would be cremated.

[angelwings]

perfect thread to make a racist remark...
on second thoughts... i'll hold it

People are often unreasonable, llogical and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.

[NDUU MWANA A NGUNGU]

>perfect thread to make a racist remark...
>on second thoughts... i'll hold it
>
>People are often unreasonable, llogical and self-centered.
>Forgive them anyway.

Murume,mbona unaandika mambo ya tourists kuuliwa na ndovu.
Watu wangapi wameuliwa tharaka nithi and all those 'twigs' producing zotes?they are your blood.-hot blooded merus.

[wakili-express]

and when they ask me if I have ever seen a lion, or an elephant, I tell them -"yes, on Discovery Channel!"

[bronzit]

Sad, unfortunate event, not good for tourism.

It reminds me of a similar incident (involving disregard of wild animals) that happened to some British soldiers on some exercise in Kenya sometime in the early 90s.

The Royal Army soldiers were at Archer's Post where they had been dropped off to conduct some military exercises. After trekking for a while, navigating through the wilderness, one group came across one of the reference points on their maps and decided to chill for a while.

Well, one soldier happened to spot a snake basking next to some rocks and commented on how pretty it was with its colors etc. and proceeded to pick it up. The poor bloke had actually picked up a young or small Puff Adder, one of the most dangerous reptiles on earth!

Needless to say, the snake promptly struck out with a lethal dose of venom!

In the ensuing panic, the foolish jungu threw it into the rest of his group and all hell broke loose. By the time one of the smarter ones had thrown it AWAY from the group so the carnage could stop, 5 soldiers had been bitten.

The soldiers called for medical evacuation but by the time the chopper located them and came in to rescue them, 2 were already dead and 2 apparently died later! Only one survived the bites and probably because he got bitten last and had the least venom injected!

Be it tourists or whatever, these people need to know miros kimbia from wild creatures for a reason; people like the Croc Hunter are not the best to emulate as role models!!

[Nxele]

>and when they ask me if I have ever seen a lion, or an
>elephant, I tell them -"yes, on Discovery Channel!"

I usually tell them that seeing a lion or an elephant depends solely on what you have been drinking or smoking before the sighting .

[mahatma]

>I usually tell them that seeing a lion or an elephant depends
>solely on what you have been drinking or smoking before the
>sighting .
>

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!