Apples for elephants

Last Saturday, my dad and I volunteered at The Elephant Sanctuary.

The Elephant Sanctuary is one of my major charitable organizations of choice. Charity Navigator gives it four stars, and I've personally visited the facility in Hohenwald, Tennessee, twice, and I can vouch for the sincerity and dedication of its volunteers and staff.

Although, I can't technically vouch for the fact that they have elephants. You see, they don't really like the public to get too close. Normally, they don't like the public to see the elephants at all. Because the purpose of the elephants is not to perform for the public, or even to give humans any enjoyment at all. Not technically. The purpose of the Sanctuary is to give the elephants a place to live out their lives, simply being ... elephants. It's the place where zoo and circus retirees go to finally be the animals they were born to be.

Yes, there are Asian and African elephants living on 2,700 acres in Tennessee. 23 have lived there so far. A lot of the people I talked to in Tennessee weren't the least bit aware of that.

Though I can't personally vouch for them, I'm pretty certain they're there. The Sanctuary has an elecam, you see, and every day there is at least an elephant or two in plain view. (During daylight hours, folks.) And I've seen recognizable staff members on the elecam with the elephants, people I've also seen in person at the Sanctuary. So I'm willing to bet large parts of my body that the elephants really do exist.

And if they don't exist, then I sure can't imagine what they're going to do with all these apples we picked for them on Saturday!

Four of us picked all those apples. Normally, the Elephant Sanctuary has one volunteer day per month, and up to a dozen people volunteer. My dad and I applied to be volunteers for September many months ago, but all of the Sanctuary's volunteer positions were filled through the end of the year. Luckily, I thought to contact the Sanctuary last Thursday to see if they had any last-minute cancellations, and they did, so we were able to get two volunteer slots! Which turned out to be fortuitous, because every other volunteer who signed up for that day was stuck in an airport somewhere because of Hurricane Ike. So it was the two alternate volunteers (my dad and I), the volunteer leader (who works at the Sanctuary full time) and a volunteer who was scheduled to work in the office who joined us as well. They said this was the first time they had 100% no-shows. Darn that Ike.

Here are some more pictures of us with those apples. But don't strain your eyes looking for elephants, because you won't find any.






That last photo is of me.

If you are interested in helping fund the retirement of these long-lived, wonderful animals, (and the acquisition and retirement of many more to come), there are many ways to do it. Click on any of the links below for more information.

Acres for Elephants - Donate a Square Elephant (the space required for an elephant to stand at rest), a Sleepy Square Elephant (the space necessary for an elephant to lie down and take a nap - an area approximately 9 feet x 14 feet), a Dumbo (an area about the size of a house at 1,440 square feet), a Jumbo (larger than the Dumbo at about 1/4 acre), or a Mammoth (a full, one acre).

Wish List - Make an "in-kind" donation - the Sanctuary needs everything from air conditioners to safety glasses to jars of molasses.

New Asian Barn - The Sanctuary's new Asian barn is finished, but it still needs supplies.

Feed an Elephant for a Day - A full-grown Asian elephant eats approximately 150-200 pounds of food each day!

Become a Friend of the Sanctuary and receive their newsletter, "Trunklines," for a year.

Or make a VIP Pledge - Donate just $10,000 (specifically, $2,000 a year over five years) and receive the VIP Behind-the-Scenes tour. This is your opportunity to visit with Sanctuary staff and have the privilege of seeing how this operation really works by viewing their state-of-the-art facilities. This is an exclusive opportunity to be in the middle of everything without disrupting the elephants' daily lives. (But, as always, no elephant viewing is guaranteed. I just might have to go down and work there if I want to ever see a Tennessee elephant.)