I feel terrible laughing about this, but I can't help imagining this poor guy's surprise.

This is like climbing into the pool at your local Senior Center and getting killed by a saltwater crocodile.

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Wow!

African elephants are the more aggressive of the species, so I wouldn't be surprised that someone got hurt or killed if one got loose.

This smells like "animal rights" idiocy, although I guess some animal keeper could have screwed up royally.

I'll bet that feller's last thoughts was I should have stood in bed..

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Eccentric old coot

Probably was wishing for his pocket carry 700 Nitro Express

I wonder if I'm related to that guy, because it sure sounds like my kind of luck...

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Lounge Lizard Extraordinaire

ya just never know when ya may need it...

And if it wasn't for bad luck he wouldn't have any luck at all. Larry

You should feel terrible about this - there's something wrong with you for laughing about an innocent persons death!

I wouldn't go so far to say it's laughable. Definitely an example of wrong place, wrong time though. 5am, that would not be something you would expect to happen...

Just one more valid reason I believe exercise is over rated.

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I am a sheep dog!
1601 (ret)

Can you explain exactly what about this story tickled your funny bone?

Well, if you can't appreciate the utterly bizarre preposterousness of taking a peaceful stroll through the German woods, where the most dangerous animal tends to be a weasel, and suddenly you find yourself charged by an African elephant, I can't really help you.

Maybe you have to be as steeped in the German stroll culture as I used to be to really get it. Of course it's tragic that the guy died, but that doesn't make the scenario any less absurd.

If it makes you feel better, I could give you permission to chuckle if I'm ever attacked and killed by a Great White shark in my bathtub. But you're probably too self-righteous to take advantage of that.

P.S. For those of you more into formal logic and the scientific method, the attached Venn diagram might offer a simplified explanation.

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"Truth is stranger than fiction."

Well.... you got to admit that is one heck of an obituary the poor fellow will have, and he will be long remembered by the way he died.

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"Life is short, hunt hard"

Actually I find the situation to be funny! At 5am in the German woods to run into a African elephant. ....yep funny. I chuckled!

So you also have a warped sense of humor?

Yep


............

Well, at least YOU are honest about it!

He had a better chance of winning the powerball.

I recall once on a road trip stopping at a roadside rest area. Used the rest room, then sat down at a picnic table for a snack. Heard something moving behind me, turned around, and found an adult tiger staring at me from about 20 feet away.

That was followed by a man's voice calling out to the tiger to come. Tiger turned, walked over to a van where the man had opened the door, and climbed inside. Darn critter was a pet! Owner had stopped to allow the tiger to relieve itself, then got back in the van and continued on down the road.

If I can run into a full grown tiger at a rest area in Colorado I see no reason why old Hans shouldn't run into an African elephant in Heidelberg.

at 5 AM I am carrying you never know who or what is out there when its still dark

This immediately reminded me of one of my best friends, who was killed in the line of duty while serving as a Deputy Sheriff in Smith County, Texas in March 2011. While working traffic control at an accident scene, the "dead" cow that had been struck by a car "resurrected" and attacked my buddy. All of us who knew him agreed that his sense of humor would have found the absolute absurdity of the situation funny. As bizarre as..... well..... being attacked by an African elephant in the German forest.

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Wait....... What?

I walked into a taxidermy shop in Rawlins one day and there was this terrific stuffed mountain lion set up on the counter.

I was talking to the proprietor and all of a sudden I realized that stuffed cat's tail was twitching. It got up, stretched, and jumped off the counter and went back into the rear of the shop.

I was kinda quiet there for couple of minutes as I re-calibrated myself.

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Eccentric old coot

Humor is often based on surprise, unexpected, bizarre. Punchlines are often based on something that you're completely not expecting.

I don't think anyone is laughing at the death of someone, but rather the humor in the unexpected and crazy-surprising circumstances.

Of course I have a great sense of humor... and find mad-face icons kinda funny.

The guy probably thought he was dreaming when he spotted an elephant in the woods in Germany...

Kinda reminds me of the "Elephant" jokes from the early 60's.

Gentlemen,

If you don't feel a thread is up to your standards or violates your sensitivities, move along.

If you feel something violates Forum rules Report it.

Other than that, knock off the bickering.

As we used to say in the Marine Corps, "When your number's up, its up."

It's your turn to die, no matter how.

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Have guns...will shoot'em.

And to make one thing perfectly clear:

My original post and this thread was never about the victim or intended to make fun of him. The gentleman was nothing but the random victim of very bizarre circumstances for which he could neither prepare, nor which likely gave him any options.

Neither did he apparently contribute to his demise. We've had discussions on the forum, most recently about a fatal lion attack, where a few forum members, due to the actions of the victim, felt compelled to heap scorn, derision and judgment on the intelligence, social status and assumed psychological state of the deceased. I spoke out against that because that crosses lines of basic respect for me.

But here we are just marveling at the absurdity of the situation. And there is nothing wrong with that.

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