Slash Battling Lily Tomlin Over Zoo Elephant

Taxpayers cannot afford to spend money to increase the elephant space at the Zoo. Besides, have any of you ever Googled 'elephant sanctuary Tennessee' to see just how wonderful a place it truly is?? http://www.elephants.com/sanct.htm 2700 ACRES!! and there's another on the West Coast. GIVE THIS LONELY ELEPHANT A BREAK BEFORE IT DIES.

Elephant Wisdom: Eat, Play, Love

By Teresa Penner
When I planned my adventure to Cambodia and Thailand last year I had to include what has become an essential part of any trip for me now: wildlife. Previous trips to Africa and Australia have me totally hooked. Binoculars, camera and field guide in tow, I am the geek studying birds on the long plane rides. I do not claim to be anything other than an enthusiast. Not an expert but just an avid wildlife enthusiast trying to do my part to preserve, conserve and protect in a small way by responsible travel.
Pretty much everyone knows that there are two different species of elephants: the African (Loxodanta Africana) and the Asian (Elephus Maximus). What most people don't know is that the Asian elephant is endangered. The African elephants number in the 500,000 range while the Asian elephant's numbers have fallen to a disturbingly low figure: only about 30,000 Asian elephants remain in the entire world! In Thailand they number between 3,000 to 4,000. About half of this number are domesticated; the remainder are living in National Park Preserves; and some 300 others are allowed to suffer appalling conditions in Bangkok.
It is important to note that at the beginning of the 20th century there were approximately 100,000 elephants that graced the Thai countryside. I saw elephants depicted on practically every temple that I visited throughout South East Asia. It is sad that something so ingrained in the people's consciousness has suffered the fate of progress. The number one cause of their demise is habitat loss. We hear it over and over as people clear the planet to make way for more humans; the animals can't possibly survive.
Set in a natural valley surrounded by forested mountains and bordered by a river, Elephant Nature Park (ENP) is a unique, hands-on elephant conservation project set in beautiful Chiang Mai province in northern Thailand. It provides sanctuary for some 30 distressed elephants. At the heart of this project is Lek Chailert, a woman who established ENP around 1995. Her mission is to rehabilitate sick elephants, elephants rescued from trekking camps, logging camps and street begging whose owners are unable financially to give them proper care. Some are old, some are orphaned babies, some have had their tusks removed and some have been injured from land mines. Through donations and a steady stream of volunteer visitors, Lek and her team work miracles for the fortunate elephants that end up in her care.

My visit was one of the highlights of my life, second only to sitting in a boat in the Chobe river in Botswana for several hours watching about 100 African elephants swim, drink and cavort. The accommodations at ENP are rustic to say the least. Our bamboo hut on stilts was a little rickety, and new and interesting species of insects were outside my mosquito net at night. But the fellowship of the other 15 or so guests and the excitement we all felt at the prospect of interacting with the elephants far outweighed the fear of a few bugs. We started out from Chiang Mai City by visiting the market where we bought a truckload of fruit for the elephants. All the visitors helped load the baskets for the 60 kilometer ride out. Upon arrival we were given a safety lecture in the large open dining hall. Then it was time to feed them. The elephant's skin is rougher than you think and after passing out bananas, watermelons and pineapples for about an hour my hands were sorely chafed. Passing the food out by hand is more diverting for the elephants and makes their treat last longer and is tons of fun for the guests. After the elephants ate every last morsel we all sat down on mats at low tables for a delicious Thai buffet for ourselves. After our lunch, in the hottest part of the day, came elephant bath time. We all gathered brushes and buckets and followed the elephants down to the river. The mahouts asked the older elephants to lie down or kneel down. They didn't have to ask me twice to help and in an instant I was waist deep scrubbing away.

The elephant that I was scrubbing uttered a deep, long rumble and I couldn't help but anthropomorphize that this was her way of saying she was truly enjoying herself. The wicked babies, however, cut short our fun by cavorting and squealing loudly, startling the old lady. She got up with a look that said, "You lot keep up that nonsense and one of you is going to get hurt." No sooner than they were all clean and cool they went straight to the mud hole for a good wallow. The incorrigible babies soon had the rest of them lumbering off for some peace from their antics and the wild rumpus started. I could have watched them forever, splashing, wrestling, rooting in the mud with their tiny tusks and squealing the entire time.
We stayed and followed the routine for three days: feeding, bathing and on the last morning, a dawn walk by the river for a little

It just irks me how people don't even bother to read an article & educate themselves better before commenting.

The elephants new enclosure will be a much better suited environment for him & folks zoo's are needed. How many of you have worked in one? I have & can tell you the people working in them aren't there for the pay, they are there for the love & dedication they feel for the animal world.

Without zoos, because of mankind's greed, we would soon find ourselves without many species. It is the zoo's that work together to keep many species of animals from extinction. Many will soon be found no where on our planet but zoos.

Also Asian elephants aren't found in Africa. Asian being your first hint. They are highly endangered in their natural habitat do to farming destroying their homes, poaching & human encroachment. There are LESS than 30,000 left in the wild. One serious disease could in fact wipe out a population this small. Their life in Asia could in fact be an elephant owned that works the street with scars from hooks, suffering wounds from leg chains & made to walk endless miles to the next city for food. Many over crowded parks now have to shoot healthy elephants to control populations for lack of room.

So before you judge so harshly what you obviously have little education on, why don't you volunteer at a zoo for a while & learn just how hard the people there work to keep the animals healthy, happy & on the face of this earth.

Sign me boiling over the ignorance here.

Elephants live a lot longer in the wild then in captivity and they don't have all of the health problems that captive ones do (ie-chronic foot pain from the hard cement). They are used to walking for miles a day- not standing and swaying back and forth on concrete. They should be in the wild and left alone. A sanctuary is the next best thing.

evaderci, go to this site before you insult other peoples intelligence again:

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/beck-and-call.html

Slash should mind his own business. Lily is 100% right the Elephant should retire .How would you like to work till the day you die??

I'm a hunter, so personally I would rather have them in the wild where GOD INTENDED and that's where GOD INTENDED us to hunt them. If you want to see them, then go to their native habitat yourself. What about kids you say? That's why we have nat-geo/discovery/etc... cable channels(in H.D. too!!!).
After seeing animal behavior in their native habitat and then seeing them locked up in zoos... to put it nicely, there is no comparison.
BTW, If you didn't know, hunters have more compassion and respect for animals and the enviroment than anyone else, because we use it and take care of it, so we can pass it down to our kids and grandkids.
Don't mess with GOD's gifts.... tread lightly (and downwind!)

to velokubrico9 take your spam and smut with you.this is not a sex sight hope you get aids and dye

You want me to side with the opinion of a circus weirdo like "Slash" over any thing more complex than a one syllable word? Only in strange and egregious LA would the idea even surface. You poor dumb a**** have been inhaling smog for so long you think reality is a Hollywood movie. Lily at least shows a spark of logic.

send the poor guy to it's natural habitat where it will have to avoid poachers and ivory hunters. it's probably only alive thanks o captivity