Everyone has a favorite animal. Mine is the elephant. And they need our help.
A female elephant with her baby - Photo by ZooFari
My first memorable encounter with a baby elephant was in my late teens and it was at the San Diego Zoo. This zoo has a baby zoo where you can interact with all kinds of animals, at least it was that way in the 70’s. There was a baby elephant in one of the enclosures. The enclosure had a four foot wall, and the baby was right there in front of me. I had to touch her, which I saw in her eyes she wanted me to do. There was a caretaker in the enclosure with her and she gave me the OK.
The baby looked at me in the eyes.
Look into my eye said the elephant - Photo by Alexander Klink
Those big brown eyes looked into mine and I was hooked. I reached over and for the first time in my life I found myself touching and scratching the wiry hairs of a baby elephant. She raised her trunk to me and trumpeted, then ran off to the watering hole that the zoo provided for her. Then she came back and reached her trunk out to my hand. I scratched again. I had the feeling that she wanted to play with me, and asked if this was OK. I got the OK.
I started by scratching her forehead, and then I gently pushed. She raised her trunk, backed up and then lowered her head for me to scratch again. I did so, and I put one leg into the enclosure. Again this was OK with the gal in the enclosure. I scratched and I pushed. She was amazing. OK, you are thinking that I was nuts, and I was young. Yes I was both, but I had one of the best experiences of my life with this little one ton gal. For about a half hour I played with the baby elephant, scratching and pushing. She – running away, and then coming back for more with what I can only describe as a smile on her face.
I was getting ready to go on with my family. She noticed this, and came running back over. I scratched again and turned to leave when the little gal reached her trunk out to me, wrapped it around my leg and started to pull me in to the enclosure. Half in and half out I was surprised and pushed back while she pulled. Needless to say, she did let me go on her own, and I ended up on the ground flat on my back laughing at the joy this little gal gave to me! I said my goodbyes and she trumpeted loudly as we walked away.
This happened to me 38 years ago and it is still as fresh in my mind today as it was when it happened. I love elephants. To me they are incredible creatures are something to be cherished. Through a fellow blogger I discovered the brutality that is still occurring against this gentle giant. I was very disturbed to discover that in the month of January 2012 in the Bouba Njida National Park on the north-eastern border with Chad over 450 elephants were killed for the ivory. 450 elephants!
I would like to ask you if you saw the movie “Dances with Wolves.” If you have not, it was an incredible movie that dealt with the American Indian and the white man. There was a scene in the movie where Kevin Costner reached the top of a rolling hill and when he reached this summit he looked out over a field, not of rolling hay, but of thousands of buffalo carcasses. If you saw this movie, change the animal from a buffalo to an elephant. That is what Bouba Njida National Park looked like after this massive killing.
Please take a moment to read about and possibly do something to help these gentle creatures. The website can be found here: http://elephantadvocacy.blogspot.com/2012/03/unprecedented-loss-in-cameroon-africa.html
Please boycott Ivory and help save this beautiful creature. Thank you for your time.
Life in the Foothills 