In 1986,Leon King was on holiday in Kenya after graduating from Northwestern University and serving as a wildlife ranger whose job is to prevent unwarranted killing of animals by poachers. On a hike through the bush, he came across a less than one-year old bull elephant standing with one leg raised in the air. The elephant seemed distressed and had been abandoned by the herd,so Leon 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, Leon 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. Leon stood frozen, thinking of nothing else but being trampled. Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned, and walked away.
Twenty years later (elephants have 70 year life spans), Leon 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 Leon and his son Mike were standing. The large bull elephant stared at Leon, 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, Leon couldn’t help wondering if this was the same elephant. Leon 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 Leons legs and slammed him against the railing, killing him instantly. Probably wasn’t the same elephant.
