A Millionaire Trophy Hunter Was Just Gored To Death By An Elephant While On A $40,000 Hunting Trip In Central Africa
Bobby Hansen Hunting Safaris/FacebookErnie Dosio posing with a dead elephant in Botswana in April 2013.A big game hunter from California has been killed by an elephant in the Central African country of Gabon. Ernie Dosio was hunting antelope in the Lop-Okanda rainforest when his group accidentally stumbled upon five female elephants with a calf.Dosio, who had an extensive collection of trophies from previous hunts, was fatally gored by one elephant, while an accompanying professional guide was seriously injured. As Dosios loved ones mourn his death, this incident has renewed debates about the ethics of hunting for sport.How Ernie Dosio Died During A Hunting Safari In GabonOn April 17, 2026, Ernie Dosio set off on a hunting trip in the rainforest of Gabon with the Collect Africa safari company, which markets itself online as Your Species Collecting Concierge.Bobby Hansen SafarisErnie Dosio had killed everything from lion to hippo to crocodile.Big game hunting was nothing new to Dosio. As reported by The Times, another hunter from Cape Town who knew Dosio said, Ernie has been hunting since he could hold a rifle and has many trophies from Africa and the U.S. And Dax McCarty, a close friend and the head of a hunting company in Wyoming, told The New York Times that Dosio knew the risks.At the time of his death, 75-year-old Dosio was tracking yellow-backed duikers, a species of antelope found in Central and Western Africa. He was accompanied by two professional hunting guides, but as they were walking through the forest, they startled a group of five female elephants and a calf.While African forest elephants are smaller than their cousins on the savanna, females still grow to heights of eight feet and can weigh more than four tons and theyre fiercely protective of their young.Lucy Keith-Diagne/Wikimedia CommonsA herd of African forest elephants in Gabon in 2007.Even after the hunters backed away 150 yards, the elephants charged. One of them attacked a guide, while a second turned toward Dosio. As The New York Times reports, her tusk gored Dosio, killing him quickly.He went out doing something that he loved to do, McCarty said. But while Dosios loved ones described him as a keen conservationist, a generous man who always helped those in need, and a modest guy who worked his tail off to earn what he had, his hobby is one that has long sparked international criticism.The Controversy Surrounding Big Game Trophy Hunting In AfricaDebates have raged over the ethics of big game hunting for years. While the sport supports the economies of some African countries by bringing in tourism money Dosio reportedly paid $40,000 for his final expedition and providing jobs to locals, conservationists are concerned about its impact on vulnerable species.The Big Five species targeted by hunters lions, elephants, leopards, rhinoceroses, and Cape buffalo are facing declining population numbers and habitat loss.According to The Times, Ernie Dosios friend from South Africa explained that, Although many disagree with big game hunting, all Ernies hunts were strictly licensed and above board and were registered as conservation in culling animal numbers.Bobby Hansen SafarisErnie Dosio had previously hunted several of Africas Big Five species, including lion.Dosio had been pictured over the years posing next to dead animals hed killed, including lion, elephant, hippo, crocodile, and countless others. His home in Lodi, California, was filled with dozens of taxidermied creatures, from a lion standing atop a rock to a rhinos head mounted on the wall.A 2014 brochure from Bobby Hansen Safaris states, Ernie joined us once again this season to hunt for Lion & Leopard. He took a fantastic Lion and some great plains game, although Mr Spots eluded us. We had males feeding that did not return & we saw one male during the day, but we will get you a Leopard Ernie.Meanwhile, critics of big game hunting have also pointed to its dangers. For one thing, Dosio was far from the first trophy hunter to be killed by an elephant during an African expedition in recent years. In 2017, for instance, a hunter from Argentina was trampled to death by an elephant that he was trying to shoot. That same year, a man in Zimbabwe died when someone in his hunting group shot an elephant that then fell on top of him.Bobby Hansen SafarisErnie Dosio poses with a crocodile in 2017.Cape buffalo have also posed significant danger to hunters. In 2018, a South African man was gored by a buffalo after shooting a member of its herd. And in 2025, a hunter from Texas faced an eerily similar fate.Some African countries, like Kenya, have essentially banned all types of hunting, even for culling purposes. But sport hunting whether for trophies or conservation remains a key part of other countries economies, likely making further deaths almost inevitable.After reading about the death of big game hunter Ernie Dosio, learn about 15 times that animals got their revenge on poachers. Then, discover the story of the man-eating Tsavo lions.The post A Millionaire Trophy Hunter Was Just Gored To Death By An Elephant While On A $40,000 Hunting Trip In Central Africa appeared first on All That's Interesting.
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