By Ofri Ilani, Haaretz Correspondent, and News Agencies –An Israeli elephant expert was killed Thursday morning in a blast in the Ethiopian capital. Prof. Yehezkel Shoshani, a world-renowned specialist, was killed after a minibus blew up in the heart of Addis Ababa. Two other passengers were killed, and nine were seriously wounded.
Shoshani, 65, dedicated his life to the study of elephants. For eight years, he studied elephant communities in the east African state of Eritrea, and moved to Ethiopia last year to teach at the University of Addis Ababa.
In an interview during a recent visit to Israel, he told Haaretz that the volatile political situation near the Eritrea-Ethiopia border was one of the reasons that motivated him to move to Ethiopia.
Shoshani grew up in Tel Aviv, and became interested in elephants after reading in his youth about a friendship between a man and an elephant. He studied zoology in Michigan and went on to carry out research in Sri Lanka and Kenya. He became a leading elephant expert, and established an elephant lovers’ society in America. His research focused mainly on elephants’ anatomy and evolution.
His wife lives in the United States, and he has relatives in Israel.
Shoshani dedicated a lifetime of work to preserving Ethiopia’s declining population of elephants in a national park near the Eritrea border. The area has witnessed some fierce fighting between the two countries.
May 22nd, 2008 at 10:51 am
ዝንጀሮ ዛፍ ላዪ ከፍ ባለች ኩቲር ኪትዋን ታሳያለች ነው,
የወያኔ ነገር ,for sure their too much fooling around will get them
somewhere were they can’t getaway with it.It is a matter of time.
May 22nd, 2008 at 12:03 pm
በጣም ያሳዝናል:: በቃ ሀገራችን ኢትዮጵያ ወያኔ ከመጣ ወዲህ ሰው በሰላም ወጥቶ የማይመልስ ስባት አገር ትሁን::
May 22nd, 2008 at 12:37 pm
The Israel government has the obligation to hold accountabel the TPLF mafia who blasted the car.
no one did this but TPLF banda
May 22nd, 2008 at 2:45 pm
This “Keri” idiot must be a terrorist ONLF agent, to accuse the Ethiopian Government for this vile action. His friends will be captured and brought to justice in time. Israel must continue to support Ethiopia in rooting out the terrorist elements who are attempting to destabilize Ethiopia albeit in vain.
May 22nd, 2008 at 5:48 pm
Ghirma
If i am idiot you are a poletical trash if OLF is terrorist then the master of all Terrorist is TPLF to whom your parents gave birth to. Ethiopia has single enemy that si WOYANE WOYANE WOYANE
Ghirma-DOMA RAS WOYANE
May 23rd, 2008 at 1:43 am
I am a pure Ethiopian (Amara) from Gonder. You are probably the son of a neftegna hyena. All Ethiopians have been liberated from the yoke of neftegna oppression. The Oromo people are free to manage their own affairs in their in their own language. OLF is nothing but a substitute of DERG. OLF will be hunted down like dogs by the Oromo people and exterminated. I have a name. What is your name… Korokonda?
May 23rd, 2008 at 8:31 am
Ghirma it is not difficult to know how stupid Doro ras you are. You said you are an Amhara and called your bihare that you belonged to neftegna. Because you are stupid denqoro it is not difficult to know who you are. Let me tell you that you are Adwa TPLF agent like your boss. You will be hunted eliminated from the land of Ethiopia with in very short period of time.
May 23rd, 2008 at 11:50 am
ይህ የወያኒ ስራ መሆኑን የሚጠራጠር ካለ እራሱን የማያምን መሆን አለበት:: አስቡ አስኪ ሁለት የዉጭ ዚጎች አንድ ፍንዳታ ላይ ሲሞቱ:: ሊሎች ተካዋሚዎችህ ዪህን የተከነባበረ ስራ የማድረግ ድርጅታዊ ብካት አላቸዉ ብላችሁ ታስባላችሁ? ጭንክላታችን እናሰራዉ እንጅ ጎበዝ!!! መቸም ያጋታሚ ዱዳይ ነዉ እንደማትሉኝ ተስፋ አደርዳለሁ:: ለማንኛዉም አገር የጋራ ነዉ አመለካከት የግል ነዉ:: ላገራችንና ለህዝባችን ብናስብ ጥክሙ ትልክና የበዛ ይሆናል::
አምላክ ይባርካችሁ!!!
June 23rd, 2008 at 1:31 pm
What a terrible news. Dr. Hezy Shoshani was my professor of Biology(Ecology) at the University of Asmara in 1998. I remember him as a very friendly, easy going, Down to earth, Dedicated prof. I can’t believe this news realy.
May his Soul rest in peace.