caregiver

Mateus, Rana, and Elephant Autonomy

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…...

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Nicole Trimming Guille’s Nails

As caregiver Nicole mentioned in a previous post, she has been introduced to Guille and integrated into her existing training and foot care routine. This process was in part to allow Guille to become more comfortable with having two people work with her at the same time, which is something…...

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Sometimes Everything Goes As Planned

As a caregiver, some days with the elephants are easier than others. Part of giving elephants choice means that they can, for instance, come to breakfast all together at the same time – or it could mean that you have to seek them out individually. Nicole experienced this recently when…...

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Nicole and Shirlei Hear a Curious Noise

This week, as caregiver Shirlei and visiting caregiver Nicole were preparing breakfast for the elephants, they started hearing what they described as roaring from the elephants. In Nicole’s experience, that sort of sound likely meant that something was going awry between one or more elephants. Shirlei also seemed concerned because…...

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Lady On the Move

Though we are constantly working to stay in tune with each elephant as they grow and change at the sanctuary, we do have a significant knowledge of what their behaviors can be like at times. That’s why it’s interesting to get the perspective of a visitor who doesn’t have the…...

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From Nicole: My Approach to Guillermina

In today’s post, contract caregiver Nicole talks about enhancing her understanding of the process of being open to what elephants are trying to say and also adjusting her behavior to communicate what she needs. It’s a nuanced process and one that she seems very excited to fully grasp. ...

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