Elephant research--Calling all animal rights experts(this means you, Peta) and elephant researchers

Lottie was my "lead elephant." I used her as the leader, given her very cooperative nature. I could walk all the elephants by myself, without the normal gang of help, by walking at the end of the line, to keep an eye on Gypsy, who just couldn't help herself. "Latte, move up" started the train rolling, and "Latte, come in" turned the train left, and "Latte, go out" turned the train right. I could sit back in the "caboose" and drive the train anywhere I wanted to given the willingness and intelligence of the engine Lottie.

Lottie on the left with her ear's flared, at my approach, then Minnie, Queen, Joy, Gypsy, Ronnie, Debbie, Liz, and my son Eric

Lottie on the left with her trunk extended following my departure down to the other end of the line. I was probably walking that way to give Gyp hell for something. If you took your eye off of her for a second, she was into some kind of a jackpot.
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This is the dear, elephant Lottie, that I mentioned the other day, who died October 10, 2010, in Tennessee. She was 47. I was with her for a number of years and affectionately called her "Latte" like the coffee. What a character this sweetie was. In addition to pulling her nipple in times of excitement or stress, she would lower her head, flap her ear's, and look you in the eye and squeak, eeeeeeeeeeee, non stop. Tracy Kim Mayo, who used to ride her for spec on Circus Vargas, in 1981, brought her a banana every day, just before mounting. Some time's she would goof on Lottie, and tell her, "oh, I forgot your treat today," as she held out her empty hands. Lottie would lower her head, flap her ears, grab her nipple, and squeak, eeeeeeeee. She wouldn't stop until the banana was produced.

Every night at 11:00 I would go in the barn to check the girls one last time before bed. I would give each one an apple, starting at the end of the picket line with Ronnie. When I got to second to the last elephant, Minnie, I would have two apple left, and I would say, as I gave them both to her "well, I guess because Minnie is the biggest elephant she should have two apples, and that mean's there are no more apple's left for you Latte." She would grab her tit, lower her head, look me in the eye, and squeaked, eeeeeeeeee, until I produced the 3 apple's for her she knew I had in my back pocket.

We had a huge pile of "composte" at the Hawthorn facility, as you might imagine, about 20 ft. tall by 70 yards long, by 30 yards wide, which I affectionatly refered to as Mt. Cuneo. When it was dry, my guy's drove the tractor and manure spreader up there to empty it. In the early spring, it was too wet to drive on, and the manure was dumped at the base, and taken up when Mt. Cuneo was dry later in the year, with the tractor scoop. One day in early spring, I had to go into Chicago, and Buckwheat asked me if he should start spreading the manure up on Mt. Cuneo. I told him "no, it was still to wet. Just dump it at the base, and we will move it up in two weeks." While driving home later that afternoon, to make the lunch feeding, it started to snow, and by the time I got to the winterquarters it was dark, and a full, blazing Illinois blizzard. As I drove through the gates, I saw lights on top of Mt. Cuneo, and the tractor and manure spreader buried up to the axle's, attached by a chain to our massive Pettibone fork lift, which was hanging off the side of Mt. Cuneo. As I walked out to Mt. Cuneo, shaking my head, I was met by Buckwheat, who offered, "hey boss, I think we have a problem. The shit pile was still wet, like you said." After gritting my teeth for a moment, I replied, "we don't have a problem, Einstein. You have a problem. How do you suggest we get the equiptment down from there???" Buckwheat had apparently given it a lot of thought, awaiting my arrival, because he replied, "we can probably shovel them out. If you help me, it will only take us about 4 hours." Before I could whack him in the mouth, I remembered that I had seen Rex Williams and Lottie pull stuck vehicles off the Vargas lot in 1981. As it was now 2oo5, I don't know what shape the pulling harness was in, but after searching for it in the prop barn for an hour, I found it, minus the drag chain and hook, and rigged up a new one with a leg chain and clevis and went to get Lottie. Lottie and Minnie, after spending most of their life standing by each other were inseperable(remember that, and note the elephant sanctuary's statement below). You could take Lottie away from Minnie, anyplace you wanted, as long as Minnie could see/hear/sense Lottie. You could take Minnie away from Lottie, and Minnie didn't give a shit, whoops sorry, seem to care. But if you took Lottie away from Minnie, Minnie would bellow and pitch a fit, the like's of which you have never seen. Minnie is a huge, gigantic elephant with the capability to snap a leg chain, if she had to,(she did the first time, not being aware of her reaction to removing Lottie, I made the mistake) but never did because she could or wanted to(explain that to me, animal rights and wild elephant research experts?)

I harnessed Lottie, and took both she and Minnie out of the stable and into the ring barn. My son Eric stayed by the barn door with Minnie where it was warm, so she could look out and see Lottie. Just like the Champ she was, Lottie went through the snow and right up the side of Mt. Cuneo with out thinking twice, because I had told her to. When we got to the top, I unhooked the Pettibone from the tractor and manure spreader, and hooked Lottie up to it, to try to get it down first. When I said, "Lottie, move up" she dropped her shoulders and lunged into the harness. Well, as I suspected the harness had dry rotted internally, and it snapped, and Lottie lost her balance, and fell to her knee's. She jumped up, grabbed her tit, lowered her head, and started to squeak, eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, and would not stop. She was inconsolable and as much as I tried, I could not reassure her that it was not her fault, that the harness had broke and she fell.

I will pause this tale for a moment to offer that the animal rights and wild elephant researchers would suggest that Lottie was "terrified that she was going to get beaten, which was why she was acting that way and exhibiting those emotions." Well here is something for them to ponder in their research, I, or my men, never laid a hand or a hook on Lottie, or saw a hand or a hook laid on her the year I was on Circus Vargas and she was with Rex Williams. I can't vouch for her whole life, but just the part of her life that I was with her. I didn't even have a hook with me on Mt. Cuneo this night, and it was a rare exception to even have one in your hand if you were doing something with Lottie. This wonderful girl did everything she was asked to do, without being "told", so how do you explain her "fear of being beaten" on top of Mt. Cuneo, given that bit of insight, animal rights and wild elephant researchers?

As I was saying, Lottie was inconsolable and after about 3 minutes of her tit pulling eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, I whistled for my son Eric to bring Minnie out to comfort her. Minnie was never as cooperative as Lottie so I didn't ask her to go up on Mt. Cuneo, I told her to, using the hook that my son brought with him. Once she got to the top, she started rubbing her trunk all around Lottie, and uttering her "sound" of whoooooooooooooooooooo, like an owl, only drawn out. My "love name" for Minnie was Minniewhooooo, because like Lottie, it was the only sound she uttered when you were calming her down or sweet talking her and giving her woggy woggy's. She would crouch in front and lower her chest almost to the ground, and utter whoooooooooo for as long as you stood and rubbed her just as the front of her left eye. They all "trumpet" when excited, and "bellow" when alarmed, but ever elephant has it's own, "signature" sound. You can stand in the next room, or across the field, and identify who is "talking" by that "signature" sound. Some will use the same "word" but it will have a different tone, or as I refer to it "accent." Lottie immediatly calmed down, accepted from Minnie that what happened wasn't her fault, so we headed back to the barn, Lottie leading down Mt. Cuneo, because Minnie wasn't going anyplace without her, and we went back to the barn, and I called a wrecker to come out in the morning, and Buckwheat did the barn cleaning that night with a wheel barrow.
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Now let's review the "elephant emotion experts" statement from below:

"Minnie was in Field 6 by herself, calmly grazing and offering us no hints on the whereabouts of her best friend."(I verifed this statement for the world, above, after a number of year's living with them, not just looking at them.)

"It was clear, based on Lottie's abnormal position and no evidence of struggle or distress, that she had passed away very quickly—as if she suddenly collapsed and passed in an instant."(you mean they can just have a heart attack, and drop instantly? If that had occured in the circus, it would be because their abused, ravaged, and broken spirt just gave up, and didn't want to go on. I saw an elephant, while I was standing with Rex Williams, drop dead drinking water after the act, on Circus Vargas, in 1981. I know it wasn't a heart attack, because the animal rights and wild elephant research experts said it was because her abused, ravaged, and broken spirt had given up so she wouldn't ever have to go on and perform and do tricks again.) " In the absence of any answers, we managed to find some solace in the final expression on Lottie's face; there was a peace beyond words".(Remember that statement, "In the absence of any answers, we managed to find some solace in the final expression on Lottie's face", because I want to invite to animal rights and wild elephant researchers to address "expression" in the next thread.)

"A necropsy was conducted on Tuesday, but the initial exam did not offer us anything immediately conclusive, so it may be many months before pathologists are able to analyze the lab reports and deliver their findings"(TES, given your chotic situation right now, save your time and donation money. You, the animal rights and wild elephant researchers have told the world for so long that circus and zoo elephants die because they have lost the will to go on, given their abused, ravaged, and broken spirt, that we believe you. In fact, there is your answer free, won't cost you a nickle or time. Lottie died from fear and PTS. She has been observing(you always tell us they are that sharp in the wild, right) the shennanigans and swinging door going's on at TES, and the arrival of the "Pom elephant expert" and just knew that you were going to end up kicking her out to, and sending her back to the circus. Given her past life of horrid incarceration and PTS, it was more then the old girl could bear. Her spirt broke, and she dropped like like a bulloxed cow.)

"Minnie is foremost in our thoughts right now. So far she has been calm, quiet and grounded. She continues to routinely graze and socialize with Debbie and Ronnie. At this stage, in many ways she seems to be handling Lottie's absence with more composure than the rest of us. We will continue to monitor her very closely and offer her any extra support should she need it" (How in the name of Jesus, do the animal rights and wild elephant experts explain this? Liturature and the internet is filled with their "seen through a binocular" tales of elephants grieving and carrying on worse then a Bedoin Arab at the death of a herd member. I have to assume they qualify Lottie and Minnie as "herd members" given their life time(over 40 years) of standing side by side each other. They will even tell us that they go looking for the place where elephants have died, and cry, wail, weep, and shreek at the sight. How in the world are the animal rights and wild elephant experts going to explain Minnie's apparent indifference and shrugging of her shoulders as the loss of her "life companion, given the stern admonishment to circus's and zoo's that elephant's never, ever be seperated as they will die from a broken heart? Where's Minnie's broken heart, that the animal rights and wild elephant experts want us to believe is the reason for the demise of most elephants? As they are "monitoring her very closely to offer her any extra support should she need it" it seem's they are going to seek therapy and utilize counseling services on Minnie's behalf. Minnie is a big, giant elephant, so good luck getting her on the therapist's couch. Don't give her a box of tissue is you sense she is starting to break down. Minnie won't blow her nose, she'll just eat them.

We will await your expert findings Tes, animal rights and wild elephant experts so that you may deliver your 10 commandments to us down here below.
"For us, Lottie's legacy will never be forgotten. A soft, quiet "mother figure" and peacemaker who seemed to have a calming, neutral influence among the Divas, especially when it came to Minnie"(I could have told you that, and just did, and I am not a Dr. What is your answer to Minnie's indifference? Seem's like you have some splanning to do, Lucy?)

Please don't make us wait forever,

Namaste

(FYI animal rights and wild elephant research experts, that deal Minnie does, where she crouches to her sternum and put's her mouth to the ground, isn't yoga. But I accept, given the letter's after your name that you are a lot smarter then the rest of us, and won't believe me, so I will suggest you aid Minnie by getting a copy of "A chant to soothe wild elephants" by Jaed Coffin, DaCopo Press, as she and wild elephants have so much in common.)