Saturday, October 13, 2012

From Glenn Sullivan #1


Mr Woodcock,
sorry to be late in the series with these photos. I love elephants but have always held a spot for camels. Over the last 12 months we have introduced these 2 female camels to our African elephant, actually the last of her kind in Australia. This is the first time this introduction in a zoo has occurred in Australia. We catch up eventually. Incidentally we have over 1 million camels that are feral/wild in Australia now. As always appreciate your blog and look forward to looking at it each day.
Regards

Glenn Sullivan
Senior keeper, Elephants
Taronga Western Plains zoo
Dubbo,NSW
Australia,2830

Posted by Buckles at 10/13/2012 06:49:00 AM

3 comments:

Buckles said...

My father on horseback led a show's only elephant from town to town.
Upon arrival she would immediately seek out the camel of which she was enamored.
He also mentioned that on another he knew fell in love with a cage wagon full of performing dogs and would raise Hell when they were taken away to perform and settle down when they returned.
I had an elephant named "Sadie" that fell in love with a rubber tire. She would lay it flat then drag it along with her hind leg while she grazed then use it for a pillow while she slept.
Of course some elephants immediately become close friends and others mortal enemies, no idea why.
In my learning years, I had one almost driven on top of me when she was broad sided by another I had taken her too close to.

13 October, 2012 07:17
Unknown said...

In the red show heard Nellie,the one that pushed the teeterboard, could not stand Suzie and she would go for her any chance she had. On loading and on loading times I was always standing sort of between them until Suzie got loaded. One time in Chicago on loading night Nellie pushed her, almost nocking me over, and while I was hanging on Nellie's leg she keept pushing Suzie across the yard and unloaded her on top of my Car that was parked near by. The rear end of the Car was like a pancake. Same thing happen years earlier with Gunthers first American Car he had after selling his Merc he brought over from Germany. I think it was in Ralley NC in 1969 or 70. He had a Oldsmobile Delta 88 and after Suzie landed on it it was a Delta Pancake and a ride of. After that he only had Cadilacs and Corvetts and a Rolls Roys for a few years.

13 October, 2012 17:28
Wade G. Burck said...

Buckles,
I am glad to find out you have no idea why some elephants are close, and some will try to kill each other at any opportunity. I don't feel like such a moron. It is one of the scariest deals in the world, bar none, that's for sure. I've had two, Tess and Delhi, and it was a wild deal when Tess would go after Delhi. Once knocked Delhi through a chain link fence, which stood back up, after Delhi rolled over it. I had to walk a mile to the gate to get her back on the other side. Another time at Marineland, Tess almost knocked Delhi into the performing pool, coming out of the merry go round. Delhi was the spindle elephant in the front and was supposed to back up after coming off the tub, allowing Tess and the others to pass between her and the tub. She didn't back up far enough, and that's when Tess went after her. In Kansas City, Mo. at the old building down town, when unloading the elephants in the street, Tess knocked Delhi through a huge plate glass entrance door. I quick loaded the elephants up and drove them around to the other side of the building, and when the police came to ask me if I had seen what happened to the door on the other side of the building, I told them I didn't know for sure, but had been told it was a brown Ford pickup, which had immediately sped away. The all time "Royal Rumble" has to be CB's Debbie and Freida. I would love to be standing with some of those "no bull hook" nitwit's when one elephant throw's down on another. They don't care if you, or God are standing in the way. I would step back and tell them, "go ahead, take your best shot, and stop them. I'll just stay here and hold my bull hook, because I have found a bull hook to be pretty ineffective, but maybe you tugging on their ear, and kicking them in the ass, will bring them around. Go ahead, I'll wait for you....."

Wade Burck

14 October, 2012 07:36

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