Blog

For the last several weeks, we’ve been sharing stories from caregivers who have a unique perspective on the behaviors and personalities of the elephants. Members of the care team generally work with the same individual elephants much of the time with each elephant having at least two caregivers; people occasionally rotate, but it’s important that they truly get to know the specific elephants in their care, since it makes them more effective, intuitive, and empathetic when interacting with each animal. 

This week, we hear from Sharon, who is gaining Mara’s trust over time:

Mara is a very interesting elephant, though, at first, she seemed very intimidating to me. She has these beautiful deep golden eyes that look right through you, and she loves to observe every little detail; you can feel her watching and studying you. And that’s just who she is: a very curious elephant.

She was a bit hard to read at first, but I feel like I’m slowly getting to know her better, and she can be such a sweet girl. She is Rana’s best friend, and wherever Rana goes, Mara will follow and vice versa. They get into mischief together, as sometimes, when it’s time for dinner, we caregivers come on 4-wheelers with their food, and have to figure out where Mara and Rana are. They will play hide and seek sometimes, waiting for us to go past them at least once before showing up by the fence, ready for their meal. They often enjoy hanging out near the mud wallow, where there is this very big tree that creates the perfect shady spot to relax.

Since I started doing her treatments, she’s shown me just how clever she can be and how happy she is to cooperate. She presents a level of trust towards us caregivers that teaches me an important lesson about forgiveness. Despite everything she went through in her past, she is still willing to give us a chance to show her that we can be better, to ourselves and to others too. 

During treatment, when she does the behavior I asked for, I usually reply with “Very good Mara!” and in immediate response, she squeaks as if to say “I did it!” and happily eats her reward treat. It’s a real blessing to be able to work with her and get to know her better every day.

Photo of Mara knee-deep in green grass