Wednesday, October 04, 2006

A 'rogue' elephant and the 'killer' sea

An elephant trampled and killed a British man on his honeymoon in Kenya.

Patrick Smith, 34, was killed in front of his wife, Julie, in the Masai Mara National Reserve on Sunday. His wife managed to leap out of the way.

This fatal accident came about because of a "rogue" elephant, the tourist officials at the park say while scratching their heads to find out why the elephant attacked the honeymoon couple and killed the man.

Last Sunday in Perth, Western Australia a news headline reads, "killer sea appeared out of nowhere" causing a fishing boat to be capsized and killing one person. Elsewhere the same 3 meter wave would have been described as a 'rogue wave.'

We, the human beings, the most powerful of all animals have the temptation to use these words like 'rogue elephant' and 'killer wave' almost in scorn.

Surely, when we encroach the habitat of the elephant, there is always the possibility of a tragedy as was the case with the unfortunate couple.

The sea is unpredictabale, one moment it is calm and the next moment it can erupt ferociously as it appears was the case in Western Australia.

No comments: