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Because of her minor ankle injury, Rana has been getting oral medication and liniment on her ankle as part of her morning check-up. Recently, caregiver Mateus was asking Rana to come into the chute for her treatment, but she didn’t seem interested in coming in. This is uncommon, but Rana seemed to want to be in the yard, close to Mara and Bambi. After feeding breakfast, Mateus called over to Rana to see if things had changed, but she still seemed much more content to stay with the other Powerpuff Girls. 

As we say about Lady, there’s no need to push the issue when an elephant decides they don’t want to come in for minor care. There’s almost nothing that can’t wait until a later time or another day. So Mateus decided to let the issue go so that the elephants could do what they wanted, as we don’t want to interfere with their natural routines. If she wants a break, she gets a break. She almost never says ‘no’, so if she does, we assume there is a reason that we humans aren’t privy to.

Later that afternoon, Mateus went to check on everyone and ended up shifting the Powerpuff Girls into Yard 2. At that point, Rana was more than willing to enter the chute. Like Lady, Rana reacts really well to caregivers who show her respect, so she’s excellent with treatments almost all of the time. 

Some would see an elephant not doing what you ask as a negative thing, but since we see choice is one of the most important things you can give to captive elephants, we don’t feel that way. For us, it was nice to see how Mateus has embraced the philosophy of providing actual autonomy for the elephants. His understanding of how to work with the girls has grown over time and will be beneficial for all of the elephants to come to Elephant Sanctuary Brazil.

Photo of Rana