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-Short Attention Span Theater-
British wildlife artist gored to death by Kenyan buffalo
2004-12-16
LONDON - A British wildlife artist who made a career of depicting Africa's fauna has been gored to death by a buffalo in Kenya, his family said Wednesday. Simon Combes, 64, was out on an evening walk in a reserve of the Great Rift Valley with his wife Kat and their friend, cheetah expert Mary Wykstra, when attacked. "It was just a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time," his daughter Cindy, 36, said, describing the area as a place Combes had grown up in and knew intimately.
Ya don't say.
The attack only lasted some 10 seconds but "seemed like a lifetime which in fact it was for him", until the two women threw things at the buffalo and scared it off, she said.
"Shoo! Shoo, I say! Get off that nice man!"
Combes moved to Kenya from England five years ago and often worked for animal conservation groups, his daughter said. In a 30-year career, Combes won fame for creating some of the world's best painting of wildlife, including close-up sketches of Bengal tigers in India and even a painting of an African buffalo similar to the one that killed him.
"Lissen, bub, me and the boys don't like the way you painted Henry. You'd better lay off or else. Try painting an English sparrow."
His first wife, Susie Combes, said an air ambulance took two hours to reach the site of the attack, and that Combes died at the scene.
Kenyan buffaloes -- why did they hate him?
Posted by:Steve White

#9  like many big-assed animals with headsets, the skull is likely 3-5" of bone. Headshots would have to b ewell-placed, and it's hard to do running for your life. I love my .44 magnum, but I doubt that unless you got an eye-brain shot you could kill it head on....
Posted by: Frank G   2004-12-16 6:53:14 PM  

#8  Well I am not going strolling in Africa, ever. They will stop a hungry California mtn lion or a crazed brown bear. I have been with 2 face to face encounters with bears in my life. Both times we both turned tail and ran. The 44 mag is "just in case" one doesn't.

This clown could have availed himself of a adaquate long arm to deal with this type of critter. But he would rather die, than recognize a wild animal as that wild.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom   2004-12-16 6:52:49 PM  

#7  Never met one, don't want to. Remember an old show on the tube which discussed how these critters kill lions. MMFs.
Posted by: Weird Al   2004-12-16 5:49:29 PM  

#6  Like Saddam Hussein, the buffalo probably didn't like his portrait, so he killed the artist.
Posted by: BigEd   2004-12-16 11:12:59 AM  

#5  .44 mag wouldn't even come close to stopping a pissed off Cape Buffalo. Cape buffalo are among the famous "Big 5," animals particularly prized by hunters because they were so dangerous. (The other members of the Big 5 are elephants, lions, leopards and rhinoceros.) Reportedly, a buffalo that is the only wounded animal that will circle around and begin to stalk the hunter, waiting for an opportunity to charge the hunter and gore him with its sharp horns. It is said that more big game hunters have been killed by the cape buffalo than by any other African animal. One famous African hunter once said "Cape Buffalo look at you like you owe them money".
Posted by: Steve   2004-12-16 8:37:43 AM  

#4  I'm not certain even a 44 magnum would be effective against an angry Cape Buffalo.
Posted by: Shipman   2004-12-16 7:30:43 AM  

#3  Splatter painting anyone ?
Posted by: MacNails   2004-12-16 4:43:11 AM  

#2  That is why I always insist on a large calibre handgun when I walk in the wild. 44 magnum is a good bet. If I can't I don't need to walk there. Tree huggers that end up on the menu have their place on the food chain out of order.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom   2004-12-16 1:21:40 AM  

#1  Artistic differences can be a real pain. Dangerous, even, given certain sensitivites, such as the effect of a 1500 lb buffalo standing on a pancreas or spleen. But hey, wymyns throwing things? Well now, that's when things really get serious.
Posted by: .com   2004-12-16 12:57:10 AM  

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