Getting Colorful In the Rain

Just after lunch, we had some beautiful and welcome rain at the sanctuary. It was a quick but heavy shower, providing plenty of water.

The rainfall caused a lovely temperature drop, and the elephants became more active. They spent the afternoon grazing in some of the areas around the pond. By dinner, it became obvious that they’d been enjoying the newly refreshed water sources: the ladies were absolutely covered in mud. In some spots in the habitat, there is red dirt next to the mud wallows; when tossed on after a bath, it sticks and gives the elephants’ skin a lovely crimson tone and an additional layer of sun and bug protection.

In this photo, Guillermina is modeling her fresh coating of dirt, mud, and water.

Comments(16)

REPLY
Kenneth B. Newman says
September 28, 2023 at 2:41 pm
When will Tamy be able to have a nice coat of dirt, mud and water?????
- REPLY
  Sara says
  September 28, 2023 at 3:48 pm
  Kenneth, you know we don’t have the answer to that question. Once his training is finished and he is ready, he will begin the transfer process.
REPLY
Tammy says
September 28, 2023 at 3:45 pm
Wow how gorgeous the ladies are all dressed up! I’ve never seen that before it sure is colorful so happy rain came and they are too how fun is that!
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Julie says
September 28, 2023 at 4:39 pm
Guille looks good in vibrant red!
REPLY
Elizabeth says
September 28, 2023 at 4:59 pm
Sorry this is off-track but will Maison (Bambi’s old nemesis) be coming to the sanctuary?
- REPLY
  Sara says
  September 28, 2023 at 5:01 pm
  That was our hope and we still hold out that hope that one day she will be allowed to come to sanctuary. Since Bambi’s rescue, the zoo has a new director who isn’t so inclined.
REPLY
Carey says
September 28, 2023 at 7:16 pm
Gorgeous photo of Guille after enjoying the rain and red earth. She looks refreshed and straight at camera. Beautiful
REPLY
Carey says
September 28, 2023 at 7:33 pm
@Kenneth B Newman You can update yourself re Tamy on Ingo Schmidinger’s fb page, where he has a YouTube video called E Turno de Tamy. He last posted there at the end of August when he began training Tamy. Ingo seems quite enamoured with Tamy! He says “Carey Ostrer With this training we started now the entire process. For now, and most important, is to get access to him for footcare and medical tests, all needed for the beginning and part of the entire process for his travel to sanctuary hopefully in the near future!”
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Patricia says
September 28, 2023 at 9:50 pm
Guille, you are a super-duper beautiful model! Love you, baby girl! 💞💞💞
REPLY
Elizabeth says
September 29, 2023 at 2:59 am
Is there anything the GSE community can do to nudge the Zoo Director of Maison in the right direction?
- REPLY
  Sara says
  September 29, 2023 at 10:11 am
  Right now, that’s not something that we would do because we cannot accept her. The female Asian habitat is technically good for 10 compatible females, but with Lady needing her own space, we would need to expand to accept more elephants. We have to make sure that if we were to bring Maison and she didn’t get along with somebody (not just Bambi) that we have the space to properly work on that socialization while still offering the other elephants vast space.
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John says
September 29, 2023 at 8:39 am
Such a beautiful picture! Thank you for this. The girls have never looked better. Keep up all the great work.
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Elizabeth says
September 29, 2023 at 2:47 pm
OK thank you. That is disappointing to hear but I appreciate the response.
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DeAnne Carr says
September 29, 2023 at 4:50 pm
Guille looks happier than a kid on a swing! So gorgeous. I notice her toes; is she getting footcare? How do the ellies handle what must be very painful care? She looks to be making progress… happy feet!
- REPLY
  Sara says
  September 29, 2023 at 7:22 pm
  At the moment she gets almost daily foot care. She handles it very well. In general it’s not particularly painful. But she has some healing yet to do.
REPLY
jen says
October 4, 2023 at 3:23 am
She looks so wonderful and satisfied!
Thank you for doing what you can, for all the elles in wait.
We believe in you, and give our support.

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