A wealthy big-game hunter from California was ambushed and trampled to death by five elephants as he hunted small forest antelopes in central Africa earlier this month.
Californian vineyard owner Ernie Dosio, 75, who had trophy rooms in his home filled with his collection of exotic animal heads, was caught off guard with his guide when the herd emerged out of the underbrush where they were concealed and charged the hunting party, according to a report in the Daily Mail.
The fatal encounter took place in the Lope-Okanda rainforest and involved five female elephants with a calf, according to the Mail.
A professional hunter was guiding Dosio in the thick forest of Gabon for a $40,000 fee in search of a shot at the “elusive yellow-backed duiker.”
Over the decades Dosio reportedly has hunted elephants, leopards, rhinos, buffalo, and lions across Africa, and back home in the United States he hunted almost every species of wild deer.
A retired game hunter in Cape Town who knew the Californian told the news outlet, “Ernie has been hunting since he could hold a rifle and has many trophies from Africa and the U.S.”
He added, “Although many disagree with big-game hunting, all Ernie’s hunts were strictly licensed and aboveboard and were registered as conservation in culling animal numbers.”
Large mammals like bear and elephants are particularly dangerous when they are with their vulnerable young, as females will ferociously protect their babies against any perceived threat.
Female African elephants can stand 12 feet tall at the shoulder, weigh nearly four tons, and run at speeds of up to 25 miles per hour.
The professional guide was attacked first and seriously injured. “The elephants were so well hidden in the dense undergrowth that they appeared ‘as if from nowhere,’ and the professional with the high-powered rifle was just flung aside,” according to the Mail.
That left Dosio alone with just his shotgun and African elephants weighing tons charging on top of him.
The hunter who knew him said:
I would rather not go into detail, but it is safe to assume it would have been quick. Ernie was a very well-known and popular hunter in the U.S. and in Africa and a very keen conservationist; he did a hell of a lot of charity work and was a really good guy. What happened has been deeply felt by many on both sides of the Atlantic.
Dosio lived with long-term partner Betty in a four-bedroom home on the outskirts of Lodi, 30 miles south of Sacramento, in the heart of the California wine-growing region.
The father of two was the owner of Pacific AgriLands, which has a 12,000-acre vineyard in Modesto but also focuses on providing management for local wine farms.
Despite his wealth, friends described the late hunter as a “huge fundraiser” for needy causes and “not one for the big house or fancy cars or the jet-set lifestyle.”
“He was a just a farmer and good old country boy who loved to hunt and fish,” said one.
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of the Los Angeles crime novel Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. As a former Michigan resident, he spent the fall months bow hunting elusive white tail deer. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.