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On Thursday, we delved into what it was like for the elephants to have blood drawn. Today, we’ll talk specifically about Guillermina and what her experience was like. Like the other elephants, she’s wonderfully complex, but she is still trying to figure out some things about life. While she did really well, her reaction was unique and tells us a lot about how she processes complicated emotions and how trust is something she is actively working on. Although this was not the first time we’ve drawn blood from her, because of where she is in her emotional healing journey, each time is different.

Guille tends to do well during treatments when one person is focusing on her. When two people are involved, for some reason she gets increasingly uncomfortable. In the past, she would be distracted and somewhat distrustful when two people begin working with her–even if she knows those two people really well and is perfect when each of them is doing her treatments individually. We don’t know the origin of why she feels this way, but she has been this way since her arrival and we do our best to demonstrate that we hear her concerns. 

Scott started out by explaining to Guille what would happen, and then having her lean in so that he could prepare her left ear for the stick. Kat came over to assist, but Guillermina started leaning her head a little ways away from the fence. She seemed immediately wary of what was going on. Scott and Kat decided that Scott would work with her one on one to see how that went. Guille didn’t seem enthusiastic about working with her left ear, so we asked her to turn around so we could focus on the right side. We applied topical lidocaine to her right ear, but she also seemed unsettled with that and decided to turn around again. Eventually, after Scott talked with her for a bit and soothingly petted her face and ear, she fully leaned into the fence for the blood draw. She was incredibly calm and let him do the stick. She didn’t flinch at all and stayed through the process and then the holding off the vein afterward, to make sure she didn’t bleed. 

Afterward, when she’d gotten her reward, Guille began to retreat emotionally. She was still present physically, but you could feel that she went inward as a way to process what had just happened. We never know how to completely define situations like this, but from our experience it seemed like it was really hard for her to trust on that level and to stand there without responding in a negative way, but she wanted to try. Her method of recovery from the experience was to go pretty far inside herself. Normally, during footwork sessions, she’s engaged and wants food rewards, but this was a different experience. We just stayed with her and told her how amazing she was and how proud we were of her. Maia joined her along the fence once everything was done. 

It was emotional for us to witness how strong she had to be when we asked her to and what it took for her to allow us to access her in that way.  It was essential that we give her the chance to feel those feelings. It wouldn’t have been fair for us to try too hard to bring her out of that mental place. Clearly she had things that she needed to process. It would have impeded her healing if we tried to shake her from some place that she retreated to in order to get through the ordeal that she clearly thought it was. She just needed time, and part of giving the elephants a voice means allowing them the space to do what’s needed in their recovery. We have to acknowledge how much effort it can take to trust. We understood that what she experienced was intense, but also knew that she could have stepped away from the fence at any time. There was hay and treats all around from Bambi and Maia already having their blood drawn. She chose to stay and give Scott what he was asking for, simply because he asked in a way that encouraged trust. It was her decision to put that level of effort into it, and our hope is that next time it will be a little less emotional for her and, like Maia, she will gain the confidence in herself and the process will become easier and easier.

Photo of Guillermina and her lovely ears