E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSAn Australian woman trekking in a wildlife park in the Malaysian part of Borneo island was attacked and killed by a pygmy elephant on Wednesday, the website news.com.au reported Thursday.
Jenna O’Grady Donley, a 25-year-old veterinarian from Sydney, was accompanied by a local guide and a friend in Tabin Wildlife Reserve when the group was attacked, according to the report.
The elephant’s tusk impaled Donley and she died instantly, according to Malaysia’s wildlife department director Laurentius Ambu, who was quoted by the French news agency AFP. The guide and the other woman escaped.
Donley’s mother told the Australian Broadcasting Company that her daughter was a gifted veterinarian who had recently completed her thesis on renal failure in big cats, the website said.
Reports on the goring speculated that the bull elephant became aggressive when it was startled, but noted that fatal attacks are very rare.
Pygmy elephants are indigenous to Borneo, and grow to about two-thirds the height of Asian elephants.
Leave a Comment:
Mother Nature's fighting back. Good for her.
What a stupid thing to say. The lady was doing an ecol-type tour and had an unfortunate encounter with an elephant. There is no rational reason to celebrate.
It doesn't matter why she was there-she was close enough to touch an elephant, and that is a damn stupid place to be.
Eugene - Nice follow-up with a second asinine statement. This unfortunate woman was not engaged anything which was either or morally wrong or illegal. Nor does the story suggest that she approached
If she were a hunter, and if this elephant was endangered, I could understand your nasty little remark.
Not as stupid a place as the void between your ears or the hole in your heart.
Eugene, you're not just stupid, you're a waste of humanity. This woman showed some adventurous spirit, nothing less, nothing more. She paid for the risk she took, but at least she took one.
If the world were populated by wastes of space such as yourself, humanity would have died off in a cave during the last ice age.
She died doing what she loved to do and that was working with animals. I agree, why was she so close? So close the elephant had opportunity to kill her? I've seen nature shows where the experienced trackers and show crew stay respectfully away from all elephants keeping a healthy distance from the beasts. I wonder if we will ever know how things transpired or what exactly happened to be that close to an elephant.
Consensus is that Eugene couldn't think his way out of a paper bag. Next!
I wouldn't say she was asking for it, but she was taking a risk and it's unfortunate things ended up the way they did. It is definitely a sad ordeal.
But some of the animosity here towards Eugene is a bit overblown and also a bit insightful of how ugly other people can be when they come across something they disagree with. Sure it's crass, but resorting to name calling and insulting the man's intelligent is no less shameful.
Mother Nature fighting back...against a wildlife veterinarian? What an absurd and tasteless comment. This woman was obviously a nature lover. She wasn't hunting or poaching, just trying to observe wildlife. Show some respect.
You don't necessarily have to be that close to an elephant for them to charge. If she were a veterinarian, I'm sure she was smart enough not to approach closely. It's rather amazing how an elephant can blend in and disappear in vegetation--when I first witnessed this I was quite surprised myself. My bet is that they might have suddenly encountered it before they or the elephant were aware each other were there. This is commonly the case with grizzly bear attacks. I'm glad she was doing what she loved. I don't think it's a bad way to go at all. I would much rather be killed by an animal in the wilderness than be on a breathing machine in a hospital. To each his own.
Somebody call a waaaaaaaambulance?
Tell me, o assorted genii, how does a wild animal know if a human is friend or foe? IT DOESN'T. Now can you tell me what the elephant's greatest enemy is? HUMANITY. That elephant did what any elephant would've done: eliminated an enemy.
And pardon my seeming lack of sympathy, but this chick was supposedly a veterinarian of some sort? Don't they teach them to not get within impalement range?
I'm down with saving critters like elephants and whatnot. There are ways to do it safely. Ignore common sense, deal with it.
It's clear your knowledge of nature comes from the grocery-store forced grown houseplant that sits next to your computer. Better sit it out of "impalement range" before it falls on your and someone gets hurt.
If you read the story, you know there is nothing in it which states that either she or her guide intentionally approached the pygmy elephant. It only relates that elephants can become aggressive when startled, which implies they came upon the animal unexpectedly.
The woman and her friend were with a guide. They were not poaching, nor were they in a closed area. In short they were doing nothing wrong, or intrinsically reckless. This story was not about "Mother Nature fighting back". It was simply about a tragic incident.
Your response:
Never heard of a charging elephant, have you?
Dull witted and angry-minded. That is a bad combination.
WOW, I'd like to nominate you for the next Darwin Award, perhaps it can be awarded to you posthumously. Have a heart a talented young woman is dead.
murder isn't limited to the human race, piss them off see what happens.....
it's sad for this woman and her family, but if you are walking among wild animals, you are accepting the risks of doing so.
I'm sorry that we and the animals lost someone who seemed to care about them, and I am sorry for her family's loss. Unfortunately that is a big risk when dealing with wild animals and if they were indeed off the main trail with cameras it isn't surprising the bull would be startled and attack.
It is unfortunate and I am sorry for the family's and wildlife's loss.
Agree 100% with your post.
Its a shame that we lost someone who clearly loved animals. However, she died in a place that she loved.
My sincere condolences to Ms Donley's family, by the sounds of it she was a gifted and talented lady and the world has lost a person who was genuinely interested in the betterment of wild life.. so tragic, I'm really saddened.
What a sad thing to hear. Your relative got impaled by an elephant. What are the odds huh. Im sorry for her family's loss. What a tragedy.
Reminds me of the death of Steve Irwin. Another freak accident ... what are the odds of getting impaled in the heart by a stingray's barb? But like the other poster said, at least they were doing what they loved when they died, rather than being hooked up to machines in a hospital somewhere.
Have they hunted down the elephant responsible?
any moron who places themselves near these wild animals is looking for a real problem
guess what? these animals have been harassed by these stupid people for some time.
i'm sure they meant well . cute cuddely ect. I hope she had read CD origin.Genetics at work