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It’s been incredibly rainy these days, so we have been doing some foot trimming, since the elephants’ pads are nice and soft from the moisture. The plan was to have Bambi, Maia, and Guillermina come to the barn for sessions, keeping the door open so they could go in and out as they chose. Normally, Maia finishes her food before Bambi and comes into the barn first. But this time, Bambi headed in shortly after Maia, which meant we weren’t really able to get started on Maia before her friend walked in and distracted her. 

Bambi ended up putting herself in a position where we could work on her feet, so we switched tactics and decided to focus on her instead of Maia. We’ve found that insecurities can come with vision loss, and it can occasionally be challenging to put Bambi at ease in some circumstances. She seems to feel more comfortable with a situation when her friends are around. When Bambi gets insecure, she calls Maia. When Maia comes over, that’s a distraction for Bambi, and it can make things more difficult to accomplish. So this time we decided to leave all three elephants together and hoped that would help ease any emotional discomfort that Bambi might feel. 

The caregivers gave Maia a few treats to keep her occupied while Dr. Trish and Scott were working on Bambi. Maia ended up being incredibly cooperative and hung out having snacks. Guille came over for a little while, but decided she’d rather go back and forth outside than hang out inside the whole time. 

Once we were finished with Bambi’s treatment, we encouraged her to step back a little so we could work on Maia’s feet. Maia and Guille were now standing next to each other in the barn, both offering their noses in hopes of more snacks. Partway through Maia’s foot trimming, Bambi decided she wanted to be part of the party, so she pushed her way through, getting a little vocal with her grandma wheezes and little rumbles. At that point, we lost everyone’s attention because they were totally focused on each other. That, of course, always takes precedence over anything we’re doing that’s not an emergency. But it was nice to see them standing side by side and bringing Bambi some comfort. 

P.S.: It’s time for a new podcast episode! This week we talk more about the Pupy and Kenya, explaining more about the requirements necessary to bring them to sanctuary. Scott and Kat share behind-the-scenes information on exactly what steps we’re following to bring the elephants home to Elephant Sanctuary Brazil. Listen now.

Photo of Bambi standing on some lush, green grass