CAPE TOWN, South Africa — In a tragic turn of events, a millionaire trophy hunter and California winery owner met his end when he was trampled by a group of elephants during a hunting expedition in Africa.
Ernie Dosio, 75, known affectionately by friends and family as a “good old country boy” with a passion for the wilderness, was pursuing a yellow-backed duiker in the dense rainforests of Gabon. His pursuit, costing $40,000, took a perilous turn last Friday when the hunter became the hunted.
According to a former game hunter, who was a friend of Dosio’s, the duo inadvertently startled a group of five forest elephant cows with a calf, which felt threatened and launched an immediate attack.
Due to the dense foliage, Dosio and his professional guide were unable to spot the approaching elephants until it was too late, the friend explained.
The elephants, described as appearing “from nowhere,” charged at the hunters, tossing the guide aside before trampling Dosio, who only had a shotgun for defense, the friend recounted.
“I would prefer not to discuss the specifics, but it is likely that it happened swiftly,” the acquaintance noted.
Meanwhile, the guide lost his hunting rifle and sustained serious injuries in the attack, said the man, who got to know Dosio through Cape Town’s hunting community.
“Ernie has been hunting since he could hold a rifle and has many trophies from Africa and the US,” he said, adding that the “very well-known and popular” victim’s big-game hunts were always “strictly licensed and above board.”
Dosio, who owned the Modesto, Calif., winery Pacific AgriLands, had a trophy room in his home packed to the brim with animal heads, including those from an elephant, rhino, lion, buffalo, crocodile, zebra and leopard.
The married father of two, who belonged to hunting and safari clubs in the Sunshine State, led a fruitful life even outside of big game, his buddy said.
He was “a very keen conservationist and he did a hell of a lot of charity work — and was a really good guy.
“What happened has been deeply felt by many each side of the Atlantic,” he said.
Dosio’s body is being to be repatriated by the US Embassy in Gabon to Lodi, Calif., where he lived with his long-time wife, Betty, in the wine-growing region roughly 30 miles south of Sacramento.
He leaves behind two sons, Jeff and Blake, who followed in their father’s footsteps by entering the vineyard business.
Tommy Whitman, the secretary at Lodi Elks Lodge fraternity chapter in San Joaquin, Calif., called Dosio “our absent member” who will be “sorely missed,” and highlighted his charity work for the Californian Central District Elks movement in a touching Facebook tribute.
“Ernie always had his hand in his pocket and would help out those who needed it be it war veterans or handicapped or underprivileged kids,” Whitman wrote.
“He would never want recognition but he was always there with a loving heart…May all of our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and loved ones,” the tribute read.
A family friend said Dosio held a monthly charity function at the Elks Lodge, where attendees included judges, heads of local vineyards and “big names from industry and commerce.
“Ernie with his big mustache was larger than life but did not show it off, although he had money…he was a just a farmer and good old country boy who loved to hunt and fish,” the relative said.
Gabon is home to around two-thirds of the remaining global elephant population – with an estimated 95,000 forest elephants.
American millionaire and big game hunter Asher Watkins, 52, was brutally gored to death by a buffalo he was stalking with a guide in Limpopo Province, South Africa, last August.
