A California winegrower known for his big-game trophies has died on a hunt in Central Africa after a fatal encounter with elephants. Ernie Dosio, 75, was tracking yellow-backed duiker, a type of antelope, in Gabon's Lope-Okanda rainforest on April 17 when he and his guide reportedly surprised a group of five female elephants and a calf, per the Guardian. The animals emerged from "dense undergrowth" and charged, killing Dosio and seriously injuring the professional hunter with him, safari operator Collect Africa tells the Daily Mail. The condition of that hunter is unknown, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.
Dosio, a wealthy landowner who managed about 12,000 acres of vineyards through his company Pacific AgriLands, was a longtime figure in US trophy-hunting circles and a regular within the Sacramento Safari Club, per the Guardian. A retired hunter who knew him, and who told the Daily Mail that "Ernie has been hunting since he could hold a rifle," said that Dosio's trips were fully licensed and framed as conservation culls.
US Embassy officials in Gabon are working to repatriate the millionaire's remains. Gabon is home to most of the world's remaining forest elephants, a critically endangered species. The World Wildlife Fund notes that African elephants are the largest creatures to roam the planet, weighing up to 6 tons, with a shoulder height of up to 11 feet, per People.
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