[M.D. Holloway]

Sometimes these "heartwarming" stories are a bit too sappy for me but this
one is truly amazing...

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.