Ernie Dosio, a 75-year-old millionaire vineyard owner from California, met a grisly end this week while on a £30,000 big-game hunting trip in Gabon. The veteran hunter was trampled to death by a herd of five forest elephants after accidentally surprising them deep in the Lopé-Okanda forest.
From Vines to Trophy Hunts: Who Was Ernie Dosio?
Dosio made his fortune through Pacific AgriLands Inc, managing 12,000 acres of California vineyards near Modesto. But his passion was big-game hunting. He boasted an impressive trophy room filled with heads of lions, leopards, and rhinos collected over decades. This time, he was after the elusive yellow-backed duiker, a rare forest antelope.
Fatal Encounter with Forest Elephants
During the hunt, Dosio and his professional guide accidentally came face-to-face with five forest elephant cows and a calf. The startled elephants charged. The guide was thrown aside, losing his rifle and left seriously injured. Dosio, armed only with a shotgun supplied by the hunting company, was trampled to death.
Ernie and his guide surprised five forest elephant cows with young. Feeling threatened, the elephants attacked immediately,” said a retired game hunter who knew Dosio. “Despite many opposing big-game hunting, Ernie’s hunts were all strictly licensed and done in the name of conservation and population control.”
‘A Hell of a Good Guy’ with a Controversial Hobby
Known both in the US and Africa, Dosio was regarded as a keen conservationist and a generous charity supporter. However, hunting elephants in dense forest with only a shotgun proved a fatal miscalculation. As the old internet saying goes, if you try to kill a wild animal and it kills you first, that’s a serious “skill issue.” Unlucky, but lethal risks come with the territory. Dosio’s body is now being flown back to Lodi, California, via the US Embassy in Gabon.
