Great news! I got a card from Brittany B in today's mail. Picture of Punki on his new AG 200cc dirtbike.
They have paid all of his medical bills, and are taking the surplus and establishing an ongoing fund for others who might need the help down the line a bit. The "Boddington Fund" will be administered by www.somethingmoresafaris.com

Contributions can be made if anybody has anything left in two weeks!

Rich
this is cool

Thanks for the update. I've been wondering how he's been doing. Great news!

Aboslutely wonderfull on all counts!

This leopard/hospital thing seems to run in the Boddington family. Boddington's father in law wounded a leopard in Zim that proceeded to put 5 people in the hospital before it died. 4 mauled badly, one shot in the back with buckshot.

quote:

This leopard/hospital thing seems to run in the Boddington family. Boddington's father in law wounded a leopard in Zim that proceeded to put 5 people in the hospital before it died. 4 mauled badly, one shot in the back with buckshot.

Where and when !


Seloushunter

Oh Boy

I hope this "sins of the fathers" thing doesn't catch on...with 4 brothers and a father who were/are world class carousers and hell raisers, I would be buried in short order.

True story: Chatting up a lovely blond in a random bar in Europe, asks to see my kids pics, one has their uncle (my brother X is in it) ....oh "xxxx" is your brother? I love him, I met him 6 months ago and we had a great time.....

OR

In college, I walk across a street in LA to get a burger at Tommy's- an LAPD motor officer gets in line behind me, and says, hey you were jaywalking, let's see your ID. He looks at it and says, any relation to xxxxx? Yes, he is my father, ok well I was going to let you off, but here's your ticket and fine, and tell your father Attorney xxx, that officer xxxx says hello.....(my Dad did criminal defense- so likely grilled this cop in a trial)..sins of the fathers...

OR

we get a new operations manager in North Carolina, and she and the gals are talking about how hard it is to find a good guy, and they start telling bad boy stories, tells a story how he took her to the prom, got drunk, threw up in the limo then ditched her...I ask, oh what high school, she says Mayfield in LA, oh I grew up in Pasadena, she asks, wait a minute, are you related to yyyy, yes says I, he is my brother Y, oh he was the guy in the limo....didn't help me much with getting my stuff approved thru operations...

Guys, the last word I received on Punki was that he was back hunting caracal with his dogs. I understand he has quite a limp, but we believe and hope this will improve over time as he rebuilds muscle mass. As we've said previously in this forum, cannot thank all for the great help and support.

It is true that my late father-in-law, Brittany's maternal grandfather, was involved in a bad leopard incident, almost 20 years ago. I wasn't on that safari and got very few details--at the time nobody wanted to talk about it much! I do know the leopard was one of those that jumped from person to person like a runaway chain saw, with multiple followups with trips to the nearest clinic for stitches in between. I understood no permanent injuries but several people got clawed and/or bitten before it was over. As for the buckshot injury, this is first I ever heard of it, can neither confirm nor deny; for that I'd have to defer to someone who was present. I would like to hear a first-hand account if there is someone out there who can provide same. My father-in-law was older, not in great health and in less than wonderful physical condition. He passed away shortly after this safari, but not before he got a chance to enjoy his life-size mount of a huge leopard. Because of health reasons and, realistically, total lack of experience in such things, I always understood he did not participate in the followup (good call on the PH's part), so I'm pretty sure he wasn't holding a shotgun. I think there were at least two and probably three charges before the cat was finally taken! The whole thing was pretty similar to the multiple mauling incident John Dugmore and and his cousin, Bill Ryan, had in East Africa, well-told by Peter Capstick. I have written about it at least twice, but never had much more detail beyond the above.
Cheers, C

I received a card today from Brittany also. Nice touch. It's always nice to get a "thank you"

I received Brittany's very nice thank you note in today's mail. It is a beautiful printed note with Punki on his new bike on the front and is signed by Brittany. I'm glad I could help out a little.

quote:

Originally posted by Russ Gould:
This leopard/hospital thing seems to run in the Boddington family. Boddington's father in law wounded a leopard in Zim that proceeded to put 5 people in the hospital before it died. 4 mauled badly, one shot in the back with buckshot.

Hi Russ,

Did the poor chap who was shot survive? Is there a fund we can contribute to?

Mike Bunce was the PH and he still has 5 00 buck pellets in his back. One touched his lung but did not penetrate. The others were in muscle. The shot was fired by a game scout, not the client, on the final (third) attempt to kill the leopard. The game scout had strict instructions to stay back and not to shoot. He shot anyway, Mike didn't realize he had been shot until after he had killed the leopard. The game scout was never seen again. The client did not participate in any of the follow-up.

The leopard was first shot over bait at night. The client was instructed not to shoot until the PH gave the prearranged signal (a squeeze on the thigh). He shot prematurely, with the leopard sitting and facing him, and hit it in the flank. After the shot, when it was obvious the leopard was wounded, the client told the Mike "Son, this is where you earn the big bucks".

This was related to me by Mike Bunce.

Yep,
Much appreciated, by me too, from BB:

I too received a thank you from Brittany today and it was very much appreciated. It is obvious that she was "raised right".

Ladies & Gentlemen,

I've been lurking on this board for some time now but feel compelled to respond to this thread/subject.

First of all, I believe we are all happy that Punki is doing well. WOW!! What a great story and person.

Second, hats off to Ms. Boddington for being a classy lady and taking responsibility for the whole situation. Her sending thank you cards to those who contributed to Punki's fund only exempilfies the quality of her character.

Finally, admittedly, I have never met the Boddington family but own virtually every book and DVD that COL Boddington as made. He has signed every one of them per my request via written correspondence. Besides, who wouldn't want a daughter as classy and kind as Ms. Boddington??

I wish Ms. Boddington, Punki, and COL Boddington a Happy Easter and many more happy safaris.

I'll go back to my "lurker" status now. Best Regards to all.

Yep, same card and thank you note that I got from Brittany as well. I appreciate the card and the follow up from her very much, AND I'm glad to see Punki on his crotch rocket, grinning and enjoying life. We al know there's NEVER and danger or accidents when riding these things.

What's the father-in-law story from 20 years ago have to do with the positive results of this one? Just a suggestion, but let's keep it upbeat and supportive.

Crag, you must be back from Argentina and writing another book, eh? Just saw your Arizona big horn hunt on T.V. this afternoon. Nice ram, congratulations. Only 30 years wait, bah humbug. I've been waiting for 36 years for a Montana moose tag. Maybe I should go hunt out of state.
Semper fi.

What one would expect from a Boddington.
Class and breeding will tell, be it horses, dogs, etc...

Especially with children.

Rich

I just got the card in today's mail. Very nice to have a positive follow-up.

And it looks as though something else good came out of this situation (the fund under the Something More Safaris) which will help in the future as well.

Very nice gesture to send out the cards, thanks.

quote:

until the PH gave the prearranged signal (a squeeze on the thigh)

Damn, I'd be a bit nervous as well!
Peter.

Hey, Russ, thanks for the info! I was elsewhere in Zimbabwe with Russ Broom when all that went down. I don't know Mike Bunce well at all (understand he's a great PH, I just don't know him), and nobody really wanted to talk about that leopard! I did know the client in that situation, and even though, by definition, he caused the problem, I think he did exactly the right thing in not going along on the followup. This is always a very tough call for the PH to make, but he has to make it based on his evaluation of the experience, attitude, and physical capabilities of his client. In this situation my guess is the client made that decision very simple by wisely taking himself out of the equation. Obviously it would have been much better if the game scout had done likewise...but, as we know, nobody can tell them what to do (and some game scouts are truly great; others are not). thanks again, Craig

Well done Brittany!

www.somethingmoresafaris.com

Cool stuff

I do like a happy ending! Good to hear Punki getting back to normal.

And, BwanaCat, I also lurk more than I post. I find it's easier to keep score that way.

I do appreciate the nice card as well. So glad everything is turning out well for Punki and was glad to help a little.