Mr. Frost forwarded this nice, very amusing story to me. It was so good I just had to share it.

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In 1986, Mark Murray was on holiday in Kenya after graduating from Depaul 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 Murray 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, Murray 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. Murray stood frozen, thinking of nothing else but being trampled. Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned, and walked away.

Murray never forgot that elephant or the events of that day.

Twenty years later, he was walking through the Chicago Zoo with his teenage son. As they approached the elephant enclosure, one of the creatures turned and walked over to near where Murray and his son Tom were standing.

The large bull elephant stared at Murray, lifted its front foot off the ground and 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, Murray couldn't help but wonder if this was the same elephant.

He 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 Murray's legs and slammed him against the railing, killing him instantly.

Probably wasn't the same elephant.

Labels: funny story, great finds