Elephant Kills Pittsburgh Woman in Africa (while she was visiting Peace Corps daughter)

Pittsburgh Post Gazette ^ | Dec. 9 2003 | Mackenzie Carpenter

[mountaineer]

All her life, Heather Uber loved adventure and the outdoors, so when her older daughter joined the Peace Corps and moved to the West African nation of Cameroon in September 2002, Uber eagerly made plans to travel there.

But that visit ended tragically Thursday morning when Uber, a 55-year old mother of four, was killed by a rampaging elephant while visiting a wildlife park with her husband and daughter.

Uber, of Point Breeze, suffered internal injuries when she was knocked down by the elephant, which suddenly charged at the group from a distance of about 40 feet, said Ned Uber.

"Everything happened so fast," said Uber, who, along with his daughter, Holly, 23, was able to dodge behind a tree. But his wife and another member of the party were knocked to the ground. "Heather ended up getting bumped by the elephant's tusk in the lower left abdomen. We all tried to run around a tree, but they're really fast compared to people."

It took nearly an hour to get Heather Uber out of the park, and then, another two hours by car over nearly 100 miles of bumpy roads to the nearest hospital in the city of Garoua. Uber, who had lost consciousness during the car ride, died only a few minutes after arriving at the hospital.

"At some point, she thought she wasn't going to make it, so she started telling us to make sure we told [our other children] she loved them," her husband said. "And she told us not to blame ourselves for making the trip. And she said a lot of other good things."

[Badray]

"Unless you read a different article or know these people personally (and your comments show that you don't), I don't see how these people are "feely leftist environemntal nuts." They went to see some elephants in Cameroon and it went horribly wrong. Pray for this family."

What a tragic waste of life.

That said, I must agree with smokeyb. After reading the article and doing a little liberal new math, there is no doubt in my mind either that they were both left wing and touchy feely enviromentalists and animal lovers who probably donate to PETA.

Heather names her children Holly, Swain, and Bronwyn. They live in an area that is ultra liberal. One daughter joined the Peace Corps - a seemingly noble, but altogether leftist idealistic stronghold.

I'm sure they are/were wonderful people who loved each other, but when you look at the 'math', it says that smokeyb is right.

[smokeyb]

I think you're reading too much into this tragedy.

I made a silly comment about them being Democrats because they were attacked by an elephant(Republican mascot, right?) Some individuals read too much into my comment.

Any tour company worth it's license will warn people of the dangers of these animals and if not, the daughter in the Peace Corps had certainly had enough experience with the local wildlife to understand the danger of something like an elephant.

This was Cameroon ! not the regulated United States ! And the daughter obviously DIDN'T have enough experience or her mother would still be alive.

[stands2reason]

Saying "if inot for Marx, Hitler would have never been possible" is a bit like saying "if not for the Crusades, al-Qaida would have never been possible"

I'm not getting your analogy.

[zimdog]

Hitler's early political campaigns were against Marxists. The original analogy (Marx --> Hitler & MUssolini) is a non-sequitor

[Rectify]

Actually the Ubers can hardly be described as leftists. They are,were members of a conservative Swedenborgian community. Many religious conservatives, unlike our posters, believe that good works don't belong to one political niche. As for their blindness to danger, the Ubers paid terribly for a mistake that thousands of people make in "safari parks" every year. I don't share their politics or their religious faith, but I do comprehend their grief.

[Sucession Covenanter]

This lady's brother was my wrestling coach. HE was a colonel in the Marine Corps reserves, who flew helicopters. They were neighbors of mine in Point Breeze as well, and I grew up in the same small denomination as they. They are wonderful people, and probably would be moderates, not leftists. Its odd to see people you know being talked about in this manner. I've done it myself - but it is odd, and I hope Ned does not look up this thread!
I found it by Googling "Uber, Elephant, Pittsburgh" as I was trying to find the history because I'm recently back in touch with these old neighbors.