Plan B Forum

On our annual trip to Portland we made special detour to the Portland Zoo to see Lily, 26 days old, and 360lbs of cute baby elephant!

Fortune smiled on us that day (boxing day) as the weather was both cold and wet so the crowds which had been packing the elephant house didn't show up so we could admire the newest example of pint-sized pachydermic perfection to our hearts content.

She is still working on 'trunk control' issues.

Getting the crowd rounded up and into raingear and loaded in the car distracted me long enough to forget my camera and my wife's iPhone was discharged so our only record is in our memories. But the Zoo has a lot of pics here:

http://www.oregonzoo.org/news/2012/12/w ... ories-2012



I had missed the fact that it was Packy's 50th birthday last April. Packy and I, being of the same generation, were special buds when we lived there and I could go there for a lot of my daily walks. Packy* was the first elephant born in the US in 50 years who survived and his popularity is what sparked to Or. Zoo to focus on elephant breeding and care.

yrs,
rubato

*Packy is short for Pachyderm, not Pakistani.

I LOVE elephants and I always love going to zoos to see improvements in animal housing.

I always thought it ashame that the Melbourne zoo stopped doing elephant rides in the sixties. (I never did get a chance to ride one.)

Undoubtedly there are too many safety concerns, but it always seemed to me that they could at least travel further than their crappy pen (in those days) allowed them.

Come to the dark side, Hen!



Kids 'n grandkids. I got off my elephant because my arse was being split asunder....



They are big up close!

Meade

(I never did get a chance to ride one.)

Come to The Bay Area Hen...

You can ride one at Marine World :



We've ridden them a number of times....

The elephants at Marine World have a nice set up...they get plenty of exercise, and they have their own pool...

Shake your booty... Shake your booooty...

African elephants w/ tusks being ridden. Wow. Does anyone still do that in the U.S.?




yrs,
rubato

Lurves me some elephants I do. Part of my life insurance, should hubby and I depart silmultaneously, goes to the elephant sanctuary in TN.