Curiosity
Thomas McAfee Trampled by elephant: Former Dean Dies In Africa
Well traveled: Dr. McAfee, who died on Saturday, had been due to start work as the CEO of the Keck Medicine of USC Medical Foundation this week. Here he is pictured in Brazil
The 58-year old former dean at UC San Diego was trampled to death by an elephant while vacationing at Tarangire National Park in Tanzania, Africa. Dr. Thomas McAfee was taking a few vacation days after leaving his UCSD position and was scheduled to begin a new assignment with the USC Medical Foundation in Los Angeles this month.
“He had an accidental encounter with an elephant,” said Skyli McAfee, who identified herself as Dr. Thomas McAfee’s sister and was notified of the accident.
The Park where the fatal accident occurred is well known for housing several hundred elephants. According to local news media reports, McAfee and two traveling companions were viewing the elephants from a distance when they stumbled upon a small herd. Although his companions managed to scramble away from the herd, McAfee stumbled and was trampled to death by one of the huge creatures.
It was not clear why McAfee and his party were not accompanied by an armed ranger as is required by park rules and why they were trying to navigate the park’s landscape without proper safeguards in place for their protection.
His former colleages at UC San Diego, David Brenner, MD, Paul Viviano and Larry Friedman, MD, released the following email on Sunday to staff.
‘It is with regret and personal sadness that we inform you that Dr. Thomas McAfee, until very recently, the Dean of Clinical Affairs for UC San Diego Health Sciences and CEO for UC San Diego Faculty Practice, was killed in an accident while on vacation in Africa. We have no other details at present,’ reads the email.
‘Dr. McAfee served us and worked alongside us for more than 11 years, and his death is a great loss – both to many of us personally, and to the field of health care which would have benefited enormously from his talent and dedication in coming years.
‘Dr. McAfee was adventurous in spirit, loved to visit new places and to meet new people. A celebration of his life will be held in coming weeks for the Health Sciences community.’
Christina Simmons, a spokeswoman for the San Diego Zoo said that the elephant’s actions may not have been aggressive in nature but due to their extreme weight and size, which can often exceed 7 tons, their quick movements easily prove fatal to any humans in their way.
Tragedy: Dr Thomas McAfee died after stumbling and being trampled to death by an elephant while on safari in Tanzania
“Particularly male elephants have been known to come upon people and startle them as well as themselves,” she said. “Very often it may not be an aggressive action. It’s just they’re they’re so big and so quick, any sudden movement can have terrible consequences.”
On The Web:
Elephant killed former UCSD dean
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/sep/04/mcafee-trample-elephant-tanzania/
University dean ‘trampled to death by an ELEPHANT on luxury African vacation’ just three days before he was due to start his new job
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2411534/UCSD-dean-Thomas-McAfee-trampled-death-ELEPHANT-African-vacation.html