Californian big-game hunter killed by herd of elephants
A wealthy California big-game hunter was trampled to death by a herd of elephants while tracking antelope in central Africa.
Ernie Dosio, 75, was killed in Gabon last week while hunting yellow-backed duiker with a professional guide.
Dosio, a trophy hunter from Lodi near Sacramento, died on April 17 after inadvertently stumbling upon five female elephants and a calf in the Lope-Okanda national park, according to the Daily Mail.
A spokeswoman for Pacific AgriLands, Dosio’s vineyard-management company, which is based in Modesto, California, declined to comment on the death.
Tommy Whitman, secretary of the Elks fraternal lodge of which Dosio was a member, said the businessman was a pillar of the community.
“It was a shock to us,” Whitman added. “He was a good member.”
Dosio was a veteran hunter. Brochures on the website of the South Africa-based Bobby Hansen Safaris show Dosio posing with quarry including an impala, Nile buffalo and a warthog. In another brochure Dosio was pictured with a dead lion. A caption said he was hoping to shoot a leopard.
“He took a fantastic lion and some great plains game, although Mr Spots eluded us,” the caption read. “We had males feeding that did not return and we saw one male during the day, but we will get you a leopard Ernie.”
A US-based representative for Bobby Hansen Safaris declined to comment. Paul Stones, a professional hunter based in South Africa, said Dosio’s death had shocked the industry.
“There’s a lot of people in a very bad way at the moment and until such time that this gentleman is returned to his family, and that’s all done, nothing will be put out there,” he said. “The basics are: they were hunting an antelope, and he was then killed by elephant cows.”
Stones added: “It is a highly sensitive issue, very tragic and nothing untoward. This happens in our industry, sadly.”
Dosio and his guide were said to have been ambushed by elephants after stumbling upon them hidden in the bush. African elephants are the world’s largest land animals. Females generally stand about 9ft tall at the shoulder and weigh between 2,600 and 3,500kg (5,700 to 7,700lb).
Dosio was said to have been armed but was shocked by the attack. “Ernie has been hunting since he could hold a rifle and has many trophies from Africa and the US,” said a retired hunter in Cape Town who knew him.
“Although many disagree with big-game hunting, all Ernie’s hunts were strictly licensed and above board and were registered as conservation in culling animal numbers. 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 [professional hunter] surprised five forest elephant cows with a calf. Feeling under threat, the elephants immediately attacked them.”
The guide was said to have been seriously injured. It was not clear whether Dosio’s body had been brought back to the United States.
A family friend described him as a generous man who would hold charity functions at the private rooms where he stored his exotic trophies.
“Ernie, with his big moustache, was larger than life but did not show it off. Although he had money, he was not one for the big house or fancy cars or the jet-set lifestyle,” the friend said. “He was a just a farmer and good old country boy who loved to hunt and fish.
“There are not many in the US today who would have a trophy collection to match Ernie’s. The news of his death in Africa was like a bomb going off here. It has been said the elephants came out of nowhere. One thing is for sure: he will get a huge send-off.”
Big-game hunting brings investment to Africa but it remains controversial. Animal-rights activists say the activity is cruel.
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