A Note from Hope Elephants Intern Tyler Lerner: Over the course of the last two years I, like many others, became very involved in Hope Elephants, and came to care a great deal about the organization, and about Rosie and Opal. I was fortunate enough to be able to spend most of last week visiting them in Oklahoma at the Endangered Ark Foundation. I am happy to report that they both seem happy and healthy, and the individuals working with them seem to be both skilled at their jobs, and incredibly passionate about taking care of elephants. Since not everyone who cares about them will be able to go down and visit them there, Id like to give you all an update about how things are going. They have hired an additional full time employee to provide extra care for Rosie and Opal, as well as a third elephant named Nina who is in need of similar care. Rosie and Opal are regularly given long walks to exercise them and keep them limber, and are both still receiving glucosamine for their joints. Opal still gets her foot soaked in iodine and epsom salts a few times a day, with peroxide and benzaclin used as well when needed. They both still enjoy playing with their treat filled buoy, and Rosie continues to enjoy taking long naps every day on her sand pile, a habit many of us saw her adopt up in Maine. Opal spends much of her time acting as an auntie to a three year old male named Hugo, a role that she has fallen into quite nicely. Occasionally Rosie will drink from the hose, but they have actually come up with a different solution to allow her to stay hydrated; they water all of the elephants out of a tall trashcan, and because Rosie can rest her trunk on the rim and place the end in her mouth, she can easily and efficiently drink all she needs to, and strengthen her trunk in the progress. I know how much many of you care about Rosie and Opal, as well as Hope Elephants, so I hope that this update, as well as some of the photographs I took while I was down there will help reassure you that while Rosie and Opal arent in Maine anymore, there are still many people taking care of them. I will be continuing to work with the people at Endangered Ark, and will likely be working there this summer to assist them however I can in continuing to care for the two girls who we all came to care so much about.
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 12:57:42 +0000
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