So here's a
story:
In 1986,
Mikele Mebembe 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 Mikele 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, Mikele 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. Mikele stood frozen,
thinking of nothing else but being trampled. Eventually the elephant trumpeted
loudly, turned, and walked away.. Mikele never forgot that elephant or the
events of that day.
Twenty years
later, Mikele 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 Mikele and his son Tapu were standing. The large bull
elephant stared at Mikele, 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, Mikele couldn't help wondering if this was the same
elephant. Mikele 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 Mikele's
legs.....and slammed him against the railing, killing him instantly. Probably
wasn't the same elephant.
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