Elephant kills US tourist, baby
2010-01-06 14:14


Nairobi - Officials say a charging elephant killed an American woman and the baby daughter she held in her arms while the family was on a nature hike in Kenya.

Kenya Wildlife Service official Michael Kipkeu said Sharon Brown, 39, was holding her 1-year-old daughter when the two were trampled by the elephant on Monday.

Melia van Laar, owner of the Castle Forest Lodge, where the family was vacationing, says the family was walking with a guide about 2km from the lodge when an elephant emerged from the bush at full speed.

Van Laar says the group tried to run away but Brown was not able to.

The father of the family is a teacher in Nairobi.

Friends and colleagues held funeral services on Wednesday.



- AP

Kenya elephant tramples U.S. mother, babyJanuary 6, 2010 -- Updated 1436 GMT (2236 HKT)



Nairobi, Kenya (CNN) -- An American woman and her baby daughter were trampled to death by an elephant while on a forest hike in Kenya, a spokeswoman for the Kenya Wildlife Service said Wednesday.

It happened Monday when the mother and child took part in a guided walk near the Castle Forest Lodge, about 65 miles north of Nairobi, Kenya, said Melia Van Leer, a spokeswoman for the lodge.

The mother, Sharon Brown, worked in the library of the International School of Kenya, according to a security guard at the school. Her husband, Jeff Brown, also worked at the school, the security guard said. He was listed on the school Web site as a fifth-grade teacher.

Van Leer speculated the elephant was in a herd of about 20 that were spotted later in the day with calves. Elephants can be particularly defensive when they are sheltering their young, she said.

The area is full of elephants, but encounters with humans "don't normally end in tragedy," Van Leer said. There have been no tragic incidents with elephants in the area since 2001, she said.

"This area has wild animals, and I always warn my clients and everyone else to be aware of the danger," she said. "But from now we won't allow children out anymore. The young child could have been saved."

The U.S. Embassy in Nairobi refused to comment Wednesday.

W-I-L-D some people just don't get it

Why was the guide not armed with an appropriate rifle?

"An American tourist and her one-year-old child have been trampled to death by an elephant in Kenya, officials say.

They were walking in a group in Mount Kenya Forest with a tour guide when the elephant attacked.

"The woman and her daughter died on the spot. The others escaped unhurt because they were able to run," AFP news agency quoted a police officer as saying.

The owner of the lodge where the group were staying told Kenya's Nation paper the elephant attacked from behind.

Melin Van Laar told the paper the lodge's management and the Kenya Wildlife Service were discussing the possibility for providing the guides with guns.

The 39-year-old woman, who has not yet been named, was on holiday with her husband - who reportedly survived the incident.

The victims' bodies have been flown to the capital, Nairobi.

Stampeding elephants can reach top speeds of about 25mph (40km/h)."

BBC News



Glad to know that they are "discussing" the "possibility" of having guides with guns.

Once they reach a consensus on that, they may, or may not, start "discussing" the "possibility" to teach the guides how to use the aforementioned guns.

It's always impressive to see decisive actions taken so boldly.

Sorry, there is no "spitting smiley", so I can't put one...

The majority of tour guides in Kenya can not have weapons.

I had occasion to have 2 kenyan ranger/tourist guides on a big bore shooting course a couple of years ago. 1 white and 1 black guy, both very pleasant lads who had a pretty good working knowledge of the bush. They wanted to get some firearm knowledge to add to their qualification.
They started off with a 375, and it was a disaster so I stepped them back down to a 22, and after a couple of days and a brick or so of ammo, I got them relatively onto target, when we switched back to the 375, it fell to pieces again.
They could not grasp the fundamentals of shooting. Granted, they had never fired any type of firearm before, and they only had 2 days, but it would have taken a lot more training to get them halfway competent, and they are guiding driven and walking safaris up north.

What an awful shame. The loss of life in this incident might have been preventable, too.

This kind of thing never ceases to amaze me - but I suppose that I should not be surprised - given how stupid people can be.

I will never understand how tour operators in so many African countries can put their customers on foot in dangerous game areas without providing them with any means of protection whatsoever.

And I don't believe in letting the tourists entirely off the hook in these incidents either.

A couple of questions in advance, or one look around on site ought to tell them all they need to know - dangerous animals roaming around freely in the vicinity and unarmed guides provided as escorts.

To me that would mean that it's time to find another operator, or if I were a walk-in customer, I'd pretty much know that it was time to leave.

Hell, it should not be just the guides that are armed, the guide should be a backup.
Only rifle toting eco-viewers should be allowed to stroll about amongst the flora and fauna, and be responsible for their own safety.
In this case I hope the father sues, and gets a lot of money,
with the award reduced by 50% for the participatory negligence of the woman killed,
for being so stupid as to wander around in the elephant bush with her 1-year-old in her arms.

DRG says: "Kiss my liberal grits!"

This sort of stuff goes on all the time, including the participation of some AR members who will not be named!

So everyone ran and left the mom and baby

This loss of life is the result of negligence on the part of all involved. Putting yourself in a position of potential harm without means of defense is like bringing a knife to a gun fight and is unforgivable.

Read stupid

yeah except the kid. Caveat emptor in Africa, or any other 3rd world vacation spot

In Kruger Park SA guided walks are with three
armed guides!!
Rifle 1 needs at least 1000 hours of guiding experience to qualify.
These days they also get psychologically tested for their reactions.
Other parks could learn from this.

I cannot imagine how badly the father/husband must feel now, knowing he ran and left his wife and daughter to be trampled to death by an Elephant. How would one of us feel? Every waking day for the rest of our lives?

This is just too sad...

Rich

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What the hell was a 1 year old infant doing on a bush walk amongst wildlife! The lodge operators need to be hit hard for that factor IMHO.

Its real pitty ,but the main problem is that WE ARENT ALLOWED TO CARRY IN EVERYPLACE ,2ND ITS VERY SAD THA THE GUIDES DONT KNOW HOW TO SHOOT ,im im charge of TAC MED and big game rifle shooting for www.cietac.com.ar and i recommend the hunters to shoot at least 2 times a week with air rifles or airsoft and once with centerfire rifles minimum ,a good course like TED RUSELL courses would be good too.Juan