An American millionaire big-game hunter has died after being crushed by a group of elephants during a hunting expedition in Gabon. Ernie Dosio, a 75-year-old vineyard owner from Lodi, California, was hunting yellow-backed duiker, an antelope species, in the central African country when the incident occurred last Friday.
While in the Lope-Okanda rainforest, Dosio and his guide unexpectedly came across five female elephants accompanied by a calf. The animals reportedly became aggressive, resulting in Dosio's death and serious injuries to the guide.
Dosio, owner of Pacific AgriLands Inc, which manages 12,000 acres of vineyard land in Modesto, had built an extensive collection of hunting trophies over the years, including elephants and lions. He was a well-known figure within the Sacramento Safari Club.
Safari operator Collect Africa confirmed the death of its client, according to the Daily Mail. A retired hunter who knew Dosio said: "Ernie has been hunting since he could hold a rifle and has many trophies from Africa and the US. Although many disagree with big-game hunting, all Ernie's hunts were strictly licensed and above board and were registered as conservation in culling animal numbers."
Gabon's forests are home to approximately 95,000 forest elephants, most of the species' global population, which are considered highly endangered. The trophy-hunting industry claims tens of thousands of wild animals each year globally, with legal hunting tours in Africa popular among wealthy Americans.
International trophy hunting is a multimillion-dollar industry, with estimates for South Africa alone ranging from $68 million to $120 million. During his first presidential term, Donald Trump created a controversial wildlife advisory board to rewrite rules for importing African elephant, lion, and rhinoceros trophies, which was disbanded in 2020 after lawsuits.
Officials from the US embassy in Gabon are coordinating the return of Dosio's remains to California.
