'heartwarming' story
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 Brookfield Zoo
in Chicago 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.