Charles Darwin at a green chalkboard.

2008 Darwin Awards

NEXT
PREV
? Honoring Charles Darwin, the father of evolution, Darwin Awards commemorate those who improve our gene pool--by removing themselves from it in the most spectacular way possible.

Not a Shred of Sense
2008 Darwin Award Winner
Unconfirmed by Darwin

The ambulance responded to a frantic call concerning a neighbor's trip through an industrial tree shredder. It seems the individual had decided to prune his own trees, rather than hire a professional. Why not? After all, the local shop rented shredders that could make quick work of yard debris, including tree limbs up to 8 inches in diameter.

To save time (those fateful words) the neighbor had placed the shredder at the base of a great oak tree, where he could drop branches directly into the hopper. He intended to cut off the top third of the oak, since it had been killed by lightning.

With the shredder running wide open, the neighbor climbed his ladder to the first tree branch, stepped off the ladder, slipped, and fell. The paramedics found him very dead, half in and half out of the shredder's hopper, one leg shredded to the hip.

Not married, no kids, removed self from the gene pool.

MEDIA REFERENCES

Reader Comments:
Makes you want to think twice about trimming trees, huh?
Fuer alle (moechte-gern) Gartenfreunde

DarwinAwards.com © 1994 - 2022
Submitted by: Anonymous MD
Reference: An MD with an eyewitness practice of Emergency Medicine for the last 30 years.

Previous Directions Next