dictation's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Just shtuff I finally laid down the law with the construction crew as the repiping project that was supposed to be finished two weeks ago is in its fifth week. Last Friday I could see they intended to drag their feet and decided enough was enough. I called the manager of the company and told him I wanted a finish date in writing and would be going for compensation if this project wasn't completed in a timely manner. He called back and told me they would finish by Thursday. Now that they have to bust ass to get the job done they are cutting corners and doing sloppy work. I had to delay leaving for work this morning to point out serious flaws in the handiwork of yesterday. Tonight I came home to more of it. Aaaargh. These guys must be brain dead. I'm so sick of this. There is so much "I don't care" in the construction business here. Assholes. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Moving on... Early this morning I heard a radio host of a popular show here mention Tina, our dearly beloved once local, now free, and never-to-be-forgotten pachyderm. This woman likes Tina a lot and regularly slams the zoo and praises citizens for getting Tina the hell out of there. When it became clear she didn't know much about the Sanctuary - she kept calling it "the elephant farm" which cracked me up - I called to supply a few facts. She kept me on the air for a shocking 15 minutes which is a long time for these shows. She kept asking me all these questions about elephants and I kept supplying answers which lead to more questions and answers and so on. Anyway, I gave out the url for the elecam, where people can watch Tina in real time (eat and eat and eat and eat, which is Tina's specialty) and shared a few stories about the elephants there. So yeah, Teena Beena is doing extremely well. Her feet are almost completely healed and she's walking much more comfortably. She's also socializing more and establishing herself. The funniest question the host asked me was whether Tina would get laid. "Not unless she's gay and one or more of the other elephants are gay," I said. [I'm convinced some animals are gay though as we had one dog who rejected all males and yet would regularly "come on" to other female dogs. I dunno, who's to say gayness doesn't exist in the animal kingdom?] That launched a conversation about male-female dynamics in the elephant world and how in the natural world adult males don't live with the females. Rather they co-exist within a reasonable proximity, meeting periodically for family/clan/bond group reunions and/or for the purposes of mating. Elephants have the ability to communicate over long distances - I believe it can be up to 100 miles - so it's not necessary for elephants to be able to see each other in order to exchange information. Males and females - with the exception of young males who are still being raised by their mothers - live apart in the wild. In recreating as close to a wild existence as possible, the Sanctuary won't introduce males until they have the space to make co-existence possible. Also, a couple of elephants living there were injured by males in forced breeding programs and it's imperative to protect their sense of security and safety. Bottom line: Elephants need a lot of space to live as they were designed to. Forced breeding programs and zoo environments rob elephants of their ability to interact normally. In these environments violence is bound to occur as elephants exercise dominance and establish hierarchies and bond groups. At the Sanctuary the elephants are able to resolve their differences because they can get away from each other. There have been tense moments between elephants but there has never been any violence. They're smart and know how to work out their problems. They avoid physical confrontations as much as possible. What's interesting is seeing how small herds of bonded members have evolved at the Sanctuary. Definitely evidence of preferences and distinct personalities. The bond groups are as follows: Jenny and Shirley are never apart. Bunny joined their "herd" soon after she arrived. Bunny is also often solitary. Shirley and Jenny are both crippled and therefore slow. Bunny tends to be adventurous...when she's got an idea for an afternoon she waits for no one. Shirley and Jenny are NEVER apart. Ever. It's extraordinary. Jenny is the more adventurous of the two, a born rebel. (She escaped from the circus several times before she became permanently injured in a breeding program.) She is also half of Shirley's age. Shirley is a mother figure to Jen and looks after her. Winkie and Sissy arrived separately but have become extremely close and these two are also never apart. Winkie was a bit aggressive and Sissy is the diplomat. Winkie is the first elephant to get close to Tina. A real mystery as all the elephants have made efforts to befriend Tina. For some reason, Winkie and Tina have become close. And yet Tina is still a bit of a loner. Then there is Tarra who, like Bunny, roams on her own or with her dogs, but freely interacts with all the bond groups. She's a free spirit. I call her the stealth elephant as she's incredibly fast and sly in her pursuit of treats and snacks. Tarra is a very confident, happy elephant. Delhi is in quarantine and has so far had no interaction with the other elephants. But she is a very happy, well-adjusted elephant and will probably make fast friendships when she's introduced. On the African side, there's Flora who is establishing a relationship with two bonded African elephants, Tange and Zula. Flora's battled a bit with Zula but she and Tange get along great. Zula and Tange are very close... But still, even with considerable tension, Flora and Zula are working it out and they have the support of caretakers who appreciate their intelligence and their ability to sort out their problems. The African elephants do not live with or share territory with the Asian elephants. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oh how I do go on... Other than the above, I've lost 4 lbs in a little over two weeks. I'm feeling really good about that. 7:37 p.m. - 2004-03-23 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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