Forum: Author Hangout

Do we remember elephants?

PotomacBob 🚫

I just saw a headline that said the only elephant left in Puerto Rico had died.
I also remember that, not that many years ago, Ringling & Bros. stopped displaying elephants in their circus, then the circus itself died (since revived?)
Are there any elephants left in the United States. If so, are all of them kept in cages? Are there still elephants in those African-safari type places where animals roam free and people are in cars or in tour buses? I once, decades ago, visited the San Diego Zoo, but my memory is hazy enough that I'm not sure whether they had elephants.
A WIP has a scene set in this calendar year in which an animal rights person "liberates" the animals in a drive-thru park. Would it be a mistake to include elephants in that scene?

Replies: irvmull StarFleet Carl Grey Wolf richardshagrin rkimmelerre Dicrostonyx ystokes solreader50

irvmull 🚫
Updated:

@PotomacBob

Our herd is now exploring their new outdoor environment in the all-new African Savanna. Get a behind-the-scenes look at the elephants' care in our special observation area at the new indoor Zambezi Elephant Center.

https://zooatlanta.org/african-savanna/

You can't drive thru, except in a motorized wheelchair, but someone could set them free.

StarFleet Carl 🚫

@PotomacBob

Are there any elephants left in the United States.

We have them here.

Grey Wolf 🚫

@PotomacBob

Many major US zoos have elephants. They aren't overly rare. Very few would be in cages; most zoos have moved away from cages unless there's an overwhelming necessity for caging. Most likely they would have an indoor enclosure (which is somewhat cage-like, but not bad) and a much larger outdoor enclosure with considerable space. Still cramped by wild elephant standards, but not a cage.

Both the San Diego Zoo and the San Diego Wild Animal Park (the larger, exurban offshoot of the zoo) have elephants.

Here is at least safari-type place in the US: https://www.wilstem.com/elephant-safari

That's from random googling - no idea about it other than that it obviously has elephants.

https://wildlifesafari.net/ either has or had (in 2019) elephants.

I suspect most drive-through parks don't have them, but there exist enough that if location doesn't matter, you're good.

Replies: happytechguy15

happytechguy15 🚫

@Grey Wolf

Yes, wife and I took four of our grandkids to Wilstem. They are in Paoli Indiana. They have a few retired elephants, they family is multi-generation elephant ... what's the word ... trainers? We pay for admission to the elephant barn show. Heavy steel safety pipe rails separating audience bleachers. They talk about family history, these elephant history, they are watchful as they allow children to feed the elephants carrots, pet them. The caretakers feed each elephant a whole watermelon while advising audience to watch closely! After eating, each elephant will take her hay and sop up the juice! We had a camper hitched up so we did not do the safari.

richardshagrin 🚫

@PotomacBob

Republicans remember them, although Democrats seem to prefer Donkeys.

Replies: ystokes

ystokes 🚫

@richardshagrin

Republicans remember them, although Democrats seem to prefer Donkeys.

Now if Republicans could remember that cameras record what they say.

rkimmelerre 🚫

@PotomacBob

The Oregon Zoo has elephants and during the Covid lockdown they took one around to meet the other animals. You can find videos online and they're awesome.

Replies: ystokes

ystokes 🚫

@rkimmelerre

The Oregon Zoo has elephants and during the Covid lockdown

Did they put the mask on the end of the trunk?

Replies: joyR

joyR 🚫

@ystokes

Did they put the mask on the end of the trunk?

They tried, but they couldn't get those elastic thingys to stretch enough to go behind their ears...

Dicrostonyx 🚫

@PotomacBob

As of 2019, there were 305 known elephants in captivity in the US. Since elephants can live up to 70 years in the wild that number probably hasn't changed too much.

However, I'm not sure how much liberating would actually take place. If a person opened the gates some of the more curious (or stupid) species might wander outside a bit, but most would probably stick close to where they know their next meal is coming from. An animal rights person would pretty much have to spook or stampede the animals to get them out.

As an aside, there's a Canadian-made youth science fiction series called Endlings (2019) about a group of kids who help a crashed alien collect endangered species. The first episode takes place in 2040 when the last living African elephant disappears.

ystokes 🚫

@PotomacBob

The best elephant joke ever.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qqE_WmagjY

Replies: DBActive

DBActive 🚫

@ystokes

The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee has 25+ older elephants. They do not permit onsite viewing of the elephants, but has webcams observing them.
https://www.elephants.com/elecam

solreader50 🚫

@PotomacBob

Are there any elephants left in the United States.

I believe an American dentist has bits of elephant hanging on their walls. And then I looked it up and saw that he now has bits of his wife hanging on the wall.

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Forum: Author Hangout

Do we remember elephants?

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