AISHA Perhaps the most famous little elephant that stole Dame Daphne Sheldrick’s heart was this tiny calf. “She was the smallest elephant I had ever seen – still covered in the soft fuzz of elephant infancy, her tiny trunk tinged with pink, toenails of pale yellow – soft and brand new.” (p.229) Prophetically, the chapter … Continue reading »
Meet the First of Many Elephants Who Have Enriched Dame Daphne Sheldrick’s Life IMENTI (p. 288) was the tiniest and most fragile baby elephant as he had just been born that January of 1994 when he was brought to the DSWT. He was “heartbreakingly perfect” with “petal pink ears” and so “trusting and unafraid” of … Continue reading »
What an Enchanting Life Among Our Elephants cont’d And yet during their life together (David and Daphne) their selfless journey did not go unnoticed. For their life’s work both David Sheldrick and Daphne Sheldrick were honored by the British government with David being “awarded the MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours of 13 June 1959” … Continue reading »
What an Enchanting Life Among Our Elephants If you have ever wondered what it is truly like to be one with elephants then you need only explore this book. For few of us will ever be able to experience the life of Dame Daphne Sheldrick despite our unending love of elephants. From her birth … Continue reading »
Lessons Learned From Last Chain on Billie – Learn about the tricks our elephants were forced to learn and the permanent damage these unnatural positions would inflict upon their elephant bodies. (Treacherous posing such as the “one-legged tub stand” or the act of walking across an arena on their hind legs “would cause elephants to … Continue reading »
When elephant trainer Buckles Woodcock was first sent by John Cuneo Jr. (who later established the Hawthorn Corporation, the equivalent of an elephant’s worst nightmare) to judge the viability of a young elephant named Popsicle for the rigorous life of a circus elephant he sent word that she looked like an elephant he would be … Continue reading »
Part 2: Entertaining Elephants: The Review “In 1796, an elephant came to the United States.” From his first “scheme” to capitalize on these animals (the purveyor of pachyderms, Captain Jacob Crowninshield, readily admitted to these shenanigans) Americans were introduced to something they knew little of, namely, the elephant. It is from this humble existence that … Continue reading »
Part 1: A News Item: What Happened to Carol the Elephant? As if serving as a press release for the 2013 publication of the book Entertaining Elephants by Susan Nance a news item, in that year, appeared in papers across the country. It concerned an almost unheard of event involving an Asian elephant … Continue reading »