Friday, April 11, 2008

Had to Share...

In 1986 Dan Harrison was on holiday in Kenya after graduating from Northwestern 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 Dan approached it very carefully.He got down on one knee and inspected the elephant's foot and found a large piece of wood deeply embedded in it. As carefully and as gently as he could, Dan worked the wood out with his hunting 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. Dan stood frozen, thinking of nothing else but being trampled. Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned, and walked away.
Dan never forgot that elephant or the events of that day.Twenty years later, Dan 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 Dan and his son Dan Jr. were standing.The large bull elephant stared at Dan, lifted its front foot off the ground, and 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, Dan couldn't help wondering if this was the same elephant.Dan 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 Dan's legs and slammed him against the railing, killing him instantly.
Probably wasn't the same elephant.

(Thanks Auntie E for sharing this!)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh you got me Jenny because I read the book "Water For Elephants" and I was thinking "Man, elephants are smart, it would remember him!!" Hahahah!
-Rox

joni said...

The elephant probably did...sadly though the elephant was not asking man to get in his bubble...

jenny i have to confess you had me too! good one girlfriend..

(after getting over the trauma of it) ... i laughed very hardily ... bahhaha....

Anonymous said...

Jenny you are too funny. Joan read this to me, and I was expecting some feel good, touchy feely story about an man and an animal, and the mystic bond between them, that endured for many years....and SMASH...prolly wasnt the same animal!!! LOL...thats good :)

Sheldon

Jenny said...

It got me too. I'm a sucker for these "feel good" stories,but laughed really hard at the end.

Gwen said...

I'm seriously in pain, I just shot tea right out my nose when I read this story. Good one.

 
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