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[meettheelephants-blog]

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[meettheelephants-blog]

How I Came Love Elephants

I haven't posted anything in FOREVER so I am sorry about that. I typically avoid doing personal posts, but I do have an about me post for a reason, and as the title so creatively suggests, I though I would tell you about how I came to love these animals.

School trips can be a real bust, and I question a lot why we go to some places that we do. In May 2013, we were told that we would be going on a trip to Edmonton in March 2014 and that details were being worked out, but that we needed to fund-raise a ton of money. Edmonton is a real blast so everyone worked relatively hard and early in the new year, the trip was all planned out.  The Edmonton Valley Zoo was a stop on the trip, and loving animals, being unaware Edmonton even had a zoo (I swear, I go there every year and I was unaware they had a zoo!) I decided to look up what animals they had. There were a few odd ones I assumed must have been indoors a lot in the winter, such as primates and kangaroos, and others that made a little more sense for the climate, but the Asian Elephant struck me as odd. You can't possibly have a building large enough to properly hosue it in winter, and we have days too cold for an animal with no hair, it's surely get frostbitten! Plus, by this time the Calgary Zoo had already made the decision to phase out their elephants and move them, as had Toronto, it was on the news, so why on earth would Edmonton have elephants?

I dug a little deeper and found that I was right as rain about the conditions and wrong about other things. Lucy was and is the zoo's only elephant, they didn't have multiple. After looking further, being really concerned over this elephant I realized I had total rights to be so concerned! I learned how detrimental socializing is to females. How much space they need, and how Lucy's health is directly effected from her lack of space (and some "walks" the zoo brags about... on pavement) and how little space she really had. I didn't want to go on the trip after that and I tried to wheel out the zoo after that, and I finally said I wouldn't go until I got informed that they would be going no matter what, and that the amount of money going to the zoo would remain the same whether I attended or not, so I figured I might as well go see Lucy firsthand.

I knew her enclosure and barn were small but in real life, oh man were they even more unimpressive. Lucy was absolutely beautiful and amazing, I don't think I love an animal (except probably my own dog) as much as I adore Lucy (who's real name is actually Skanik. Her tags on this blog refer to her as Skanik), and I felt really really bad for her. I will admit, she came over to us at the window, without a keeper, and waved her trunk. We were there long after closing and humans wouldn't normally be present. I'm not sure if she was trained to wave as a greeting, mimicked it or what but it melted my heart. I have no doubt in my mind her keepers love her, but I have no doubt in my mind that she would thrive with other elephants and that the Canadian prairies is no place for an elephant. Most zoos are phasing them out up here but Edmonton still clings to Lucy and it breaks my heart. I really encourage you guys to sign petitions and spread word about her, she really needs a bigger army backing up a move to a sanctuary, if examinations determine she is well enough for a move. I can not express how much I love her and how much I want her life to be better.

Lucy is WHY I love elephants. She's why I feel the need to fight for them, and why I started this blog, and why I felt the need to do more research. It's kind of ironic that through captivity, I became very critical and for the most part anti elephant captivity.

In short, Lucy is why I love elephants. I've seen other elephants in zoos and at circuses (though the last time I went to a circus I was 6 and totally blind to any kind of abuse), but I had never thought about how they might not do well in those circumstances, and I never cared until I researched Lucy. I thank her for that, I love sharing this love of elephants, and I apologize for the life humans have given her and the life she is currently living.

"That's it? You just talked about one elephant!"

Yes, but without that one elephant I doubt any of this would have happened. That elephant made all of the difference friends.