A millionaire big game hunter has been trampled to death by a herd of elephants in Gabon. Ernie Dosio had been out in the Lope-Okanda rainforest last Friday shooting antelope when he and his guide surprised five female elephants protecting a calf.
A statement released by a retired big game hunter included the following:
Ernie had booked a hunt for dwarf forest buffalo and duikers, in particular the yellow-backed duiker, and, under strict licensing laws, he could not take along his own guns.The hunting company would supply a shotgun and cartridges for the duiker hunt.
Whilst in the forest, Ernie and his PH [professional hunter] surprised five forest elephant cows with a calf. Feeling under threat, the elephants immediately attacked them.
Dosio’s guide was left severely injured in the attack.
The elephants had been so well camouflaged in the thick forest, they immediately felt threatened and attacked the men. The guide’s high-powered rifle had been flung aside. Dosio had been trampled to death.
Dosio, 75, who lived in Lodi, California with his partner Betty, is reported to have had a huge wall of trophies ranging from elephants to lions. He had been a well known celebrity at the Sacramento Safari Club and had been hunting since he was a young child.
Over his career of decades of hunting, he killed elephants, leopards, rhino, buffalo and lions. In the United States he credited himself with having hunted every species of wild deer.
The millionaire owned Pacific AgriLands Inc, which has 12,000 acres of wine-growing terrain in Modesto. His company also provides management services and equipment loans to wine farms.
The hunter became the hunted.
Funeral arrangements have not been made public.
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