The blog formerly about a daily dose of mostly Minnesota sports rants and raves with a sprinkling of general sports commentary and a pinch of jaded-malaise regarding the world around us

May 16, 2008

Feel good internet story invades our blog

Incredible Story


In 1986, Peter Davies 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 seem ed distressed, so Peter 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, Peter worked the wood out with his hunting knife, after which the elephant gingerly put down its foot. The elephant turned to fa ce 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 couldn't 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's legs and slammed his stupid ass against the railing, killing him instantly.
Probably wasn't the same elephant.

5 Comments:

Blogger Jan said...

I've never trusted elephants (insert 'Jumbo' joke here), they're shifty and tempermental. This story just proves as much.

May 16, 2008 at 1:21 PM

 
Blogger LH said...

The only thing worse than an elephant is an elephant in flip- flops.

May 16, 2008 at 3:11 PM

 
Blogger MCA said...

"Incredible" is, in fact, the right term here. http://www.snopes.com/critters/malice/elephant.asp

Sorry to be the killjoy. But as soon as the non-existent "Chicago Zoo" was mentioned, my urban legend radar went off.

The story might serve as a nice parable for people who like donkeys to keep in mind, however. Especially this year.

May 18, 2008 at 10:39 AM

 
Blogger RedTigerShark said...

Just for the record because it seems a little cloudy, I did post this as a joke and not a true story. I went with the title to help build to the punchline.

May 19, 2008 at 8:19 AM

 
Blogger MCA said...

Got it. I totally would have believed this story were it not for the non-existent Chicago Zoo reference. That, and I've had to send my mother-in-law and one of my uncles to snopes so many times I kind of don't believe any stories anymore. Which is sad.

May 21, 2008 at 7:47 PM

 

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