Thursday 8 December 2011

"Australian woman killed by pygmy elephant"

Spotted by JuliaM in The Guardian:

A pygmy elephant has fatally gored an Australian tourist in a remote Malaysian wildlife reserve on Borneo island.

Jenna O'Grady Donley died of injuries from the attack on Wednesday at the Tabin wildlife reserve, the first known fatal attack (1) in Malaysia's eastern Sabah state, said the region's wildlife department director, Laurentius Ambu.

The wild male elephant had been roaming alone around a mud volcano when Donley, a friend and their Malaysian guide saw it while trekking near their resort, Ambu said.

Donley, 25, a vet, (2) is believed to have gone within 10 metres of the animal, which might have charged at her because it was alarmed by the unfamiliar humans, Ambu said.

Rangers had not seen the elephant but planned to drive it back into the forest, Ambu said. (3)


1) Ha! That's what the Malaysian tourist board would have you believe.

2) She's a vet? She's used to dealing with animals and merrily approaches a wild elephant?

3) How does that work then:

"Hey, fellow ranger, have you seen a wild elephant roaming around?"

"Nope."

"Right, shall we drive it back into the forest?"

"Why should we drive it? Can't it walk?"

2 comments:

Moo said...

Since you seem to be obsessed with/by them, I suppose the appropriate comment here would be "silly cow".

JuliaM said...

"...which might have charged at her because it was alarmed by the unfamiliar humans.."

Sounds more like they might have been a little bit too familiar!

I do like the use of the term 'pygmy elephant', though, conjuring up an image of something the size of a sheep. Far from it!