Friday, April 25, 2008

Elephants never forget


I have always loved elephants and never cease to be amazed by their immense size and incredible social structures; sadly there are fewer and fewer in natural habitats and zoo conditions are horrible for so intelligent an animal (for any animal for that matter). People still poach elephants for the ivory and the spaces they once roamed freely are being encroached upon.

Thanks to the folks at The Elephant Sanctuary in rural Tennessee who for years have been monitoring the welfare of elephants in captivity and who have been able to offer refuge to several dozen of these amazing pachyderms. How many elephants can you fit in a Mini Cooper?



2 comments:

Logan Jacot said...

The Elephant Sanctuary has had seven elephants die prematurely in their care. The founder of the sanctuary was considered one of the crueliest elephant handlers by circus and zoo experts. By the time the 90's rolled in she had so many problems with circuses and zoos she needed to start her own place or else she would be out of work. She has made herself a nice little buisness out of those poor elephants. If she ran a true sanctuary she'd accept all elephants.

honeydonthink said...

Hi Logan, Thanks for your comments; I only know of the Elephant Sanctuary and Carol Buckley from the positive press she and her organization have received. She explains that female elephants in the wild travel and live together without the males. Many of the elephants adopted have been terribly mistreated and older - some even had TB so they were very ill when they came to her (as are the ones adopted by PETS) so it is not surprising that some have died. I do believe that there are many well-loved and well-cared for animals in captivity, but the zoos and facilities that had these animals were often cited for housing animals in terrible living conditions.