Local sculptor honors ‘miracle’ elephant reunion

by DIANE ‘STANDING WOLF’ COLLINS

The elephant piece you see in the adjacent photo is called “Sanctuary.” The story behind this elephant and her fellow elephants is absolutely extraordinary. I will be telling the story at the Cecilian Center in Mt. Airy as a children’s story.

Their story was covered on a National Geographic special I saw a few years ago. The basics are these, though they do not do the story justice: Shirley, the elephant, worked in a circus for years from the time she was five. After a long, grueling life in the circus, after several major incidents marking her difficult journey traveling all over the world as a circus “performer,” having endured battles with other elephants, a shipwreck and fire, what finally got her out of the circus was a horrible battle with a bull elephant, in which she broke her leg.

She was going to be put to death, but apparently there was a public outcry, and the Louisiana Purchase Zoo took her in. She was confined to a small enclosure, the only elephant at that zoo for 23 years. Her only gift in this was that she had the same keeper her entire stay. Her keeper cared very much for her and was saddened that she was isolated all those years. After some years of convincing, the zoo opted to move her to an elephant sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tenn.

Once moved to the sanctuary, Shirley has experienced the closest thing to freedom since her youth in Sri Lanka. The site is a true sanctuary in that they have no chains. The elephants roam free on (at that time) an 1,100-acre, protected, isolated property and come in only as they wish.

The barn doors are closed down each night and opened in the morning if the elephants want to join other elephants in the barn, but it is a true elephant community built to offer a peaceful respite for elephants that have dedicated their lives to human entertainment. The people there are dedicated to these animals in ways that might blow your mind.

Anyway, when Shirley arrived, there was excitement with the introductions to the tenants of the sanctuary. As the sun was setting, trumpeting was heard for miles as Jenny approached the barn. The 30-something Jenny had been at the sanctuary a few years and was well established in the small community. She and Shirley became extremely excited as Jenny entered the barn. It became so intense that the founders chased the media away and closed down the barn in an effort to diffuse the intensity, concerned for the well-being of the animals. They were all in their stalls with the barn locked down. Trumpeting was heard throughout the night. In the morning, when the two were introduced, it was discovered that they had bent the five-inch wide steel bars surrounding their stalls to get at one another in the night.

As it turns out, they were anxious to be reunited. Research was done, and it was discovered that the two elephants had worked in the same circus 23 years before, and they apparently were very fond of one another. I saw the film footage of this reunion and watched as they traced over each other’s bodies, stopping their trunks at scars and injuries. Jenny also was removed from the circus for a broken leg from a fight. The two were so obviously communicating, and it seemed they were communicating about all the details as they stopped at scars, rumbled to one another and then stroked each other’s eyes or face as if to say, “My poor friend, I feel for you.”

It took a few days for Jenny to convince Shirley it was safe to leave the barn. The film footage shows her swaying, stepping out and stepping back into the barn. It was the first time in her adult life she would know a life without a chain and with a substantial piece of land to roam upon, as she might in the wild. On her first steps out of the barn, Jenny was at her side, pressed against her as if to reassure her. They exited the barn, pressed against one another, trunks entwined, Shirley stroking Jenny’s heart, Jenny caressing Shirley’s face. They were in constant physical contact the first four days of their reunion.

To this day they remain in constant close physical contact. And they are joined by more elephants, making their herd a strong representation of what might occur in the wild — except they would then be genetically related, all aunts, sisters and cousins.

I was so deeply touched by this story that I tracked down the Elephant Sanctuary founder, Carol Buckley. With my background in graphic design and marketing, I was filled with ideas of how I might benefit their organization, ways in which this remarkable story might be told. They loved my ideas and invited me to join them for an internship on the grounds. I worked there and added to my life experience in ways I cannot adequately describe.

These intense, brilliant, social creatures deserve so much more than we have allowed them. If we contain them, they need communal environments. People can relate to this separation and reunion, the sense of recovery and sanctuary. It is important for us to wake this up in our own lives and as responsible stewards of these amazing creatures.

Diane “Standing Wolf” Collins is a Germantown sculptor, artist and teacher.