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 work ed 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 teenage
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, looked to see if any guards were around and
then climbed over the railing and made his way into the enclosure re. 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.


--
Old Scoundrel

(AKA Dimitri)