Some patients never forget....

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In 1986, Peter Davies was on vacation in Kenya after graduating from Northwestern University. While hiking through the bush, he came across a young bull elephant standing with one foot raised in the air. The elephant seemed distressed, so Peter approached it very carefully.

He got down on one knee, inspected the elephant's foot and found a large piece of wood deeply embedded in it. As carefully and as gently as he could Peter worked the wood out with his knife, after which the elephant gingerly put its foot down. The elephant turned to face the man and with a rather curious look on its face and stared at him for several tense moments. Peter stood frozen, thinking of nothing else but being trampled. Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned and walked away. Peter never forgot that elephant or the events of that day.

Twenty years later, Peter was walking through the Chicago zoo with his teen-aged son. As they approached the elephant enclosure, one of the creatures turned and walked over to where Peter and his son Cameron were standing. The large bull elephant stared at Peter, lifted its front foot off the ground, then put it down. The elephant did that several times and then trumpeted loudly, all the while staring at the man.

Remembering the encounter in 1986, Peter could not help wondering if this was the same elephant. So he summoned his courage, climbed over the railing and made his way into the enclosure. He walked right up to the elephant and stared back in wonder. The elephant trumpeted again, wrapped its trunk around one of Peter's legs and slammed him against the railing, killing him instantly.

Probably wasn't the same elephant.