Remember Maggie the elephant who went from a zoo in Anchorage in Alaska to the Performing Animal Welfare Society sanctuary in San Andreas, California? Well, here’s a great photograph of her. Pat Derby, PAWS President, writes
The elephant paths have changed as 71, Mara, Lulu and Ruby move farther up the hill to forage for tree limbs and scrub oak. Since we were concerned about Maggie’s physical capability to move up the fence line with them, we kept the gate closed into that part of the habitat, preventing access to the very steep terrain. After a few days, Maggie voiced her displeasure with bellows of outrage as everyone moved out of sight leaving her alone in the yard. We have learned that Maggie does not tolerate separation from the group, so we opened the upper gate and spent the day out with her, monitoring her activities.
Maggie surprised us as she moved quickly up the hill, pausing to touch trunks and rumble at the others, then rolling in the soft dirt hidden under the mud. That day, Maggie moved all over the top habitat, eating scrub brush, playing in a dead tree pile, throwing mud and sticks at the other elephants, and, finally, attacking and successfully taking down a big scrub oak.
At the end of the day, Maggie and the others returned to the barn covered in mud, wearing huge branches and rocks on their backs.
What a great happy ending!
