Since my name is Anna, I love elephants. So, while meandering about SFGate.com, home of the beleaguered San Francisco Chronicle–the first newspaper I ever read– I saw a thumbnail of one which I couldn’t resist clicking. When I realized what I was looking at, I became sad. Obviously I had to inflict such depressing news on all of you:
RIP, Annabel: An elephant at Holland’s Emmen Zoo mourns at the edge of a ditch where 45-year-old Annabel, the zoo’s oldest elephant, fell in and died. The zoo said its elephants regularly stumble into the ditch that surrounds their compound and are able to climb out, but that Annabel was unable to. [SFGate]
At 45, Annabel was the zoo’s matriarch. When she fell on Sunday, she landed on her side, that’s why she was “unable” to get up or climb out.
A breakdown truck was called to lift her out of the ditch, but her rescuers couldn’t get her to stand up again. A vet said she had gone into a state of shock and decided to put her to sleep. [RadioNL]
Part of me is wondering why there is this potentially dangerous ditch in the first place? Asian elephants (like those at Emmen Zoo) are endangered enough without unnecessarily risking their lives in poorly-designed spaces. Poor Annabel.
I know elephants are amazing, sensitive creatures but this caption just emphasized that in such a way that I was jolted right out of my passive, blithely-surfing-the-net state. The other elephants are in mourning. After my father passed away, our two German Shepherds began howling at night, much to the discomfiture of my mother. One waited outside the patio door, where he had seen my father collapse while the other remained near the front, from where the ambulance had left.
So animals grieve, like we do. Maybe more than we do. I started eating before our dogs did. It may seem tie-dyed or crunchy, but I wonder what the zoo is doing for the surviving elephants, and their human caretakers. I’m not even going to get in to the politics of zoos or the ethical implications of containing such magnificent creatures in less than natural spaces for the entertainment and possible edification of humans. I just felt sad for this fallen matriarch, and wanted in some small way to remember an elephant who wasn’t just Asian, but probably South Asian. Be at peace, Annabel. May you romp and play at the Rainbow Bridge— and if you see my three late German Shepherds, tell them I miss them.
馃檨 i like elephants.
Everyone loves elephants 馃檪
Thats a sad picture!
Very presumptive of the zoo to not do anything about the ditch known to have caused trouble historically!
The dig ditches (or put in moats) around the edges of compounds because it’s a convenient way of securing the perimeter without making the walls huge. I have no idea why I know this.
Awwww so sad. I love hathis. Animals are very very sensitive. My mom’s dogs didn’t eat for days, didn’t play and were in a constant state of lathargia when she passed. When she was here in her last days very ill my cat took to her side constantly and wouldn’t leave her at all. It’s like he was waiting with her. You couldn’t get him to move from the spot day and night.
speaking of animal grief, did anyone else catch this about the beached whales. pretty freaky. they seem to do it of their own volition.
elephants are quite communal. you;d doubtless have heard of the legendary elephant graveyards in africa that ivory poachers dream about. back when … i heard stories of a mama elephant that went berserk when her baby was caught in a poacher’s trap and died.
People are going to be pissed when they learn Annabel’s birth name was Sheetal and she changed her name in honor of her favorite character from a tv show. She also was born elephant Hindu, but converted to elephant Christianaty because her childhood crush was a elephant christian. Before her death other elephants started to criticize her support for the teaching of “Elephant design” instead of the more common science based, theory of evolution, which supports the theory that elephants and rhinos may have come from have a common ancestor from which they both came to be. She would often say “Your relative might be a dirty rhino, but mine were African Elephants that fought in the Elephant civil war.”
RIP right wing elephant.
Yes, I am bored.
I remember reading some stories about elephants in India and Thailand having a habit of getting into stockpiles of beer and going on drunken rampages.
It’s kind of funny to think about. There was a youtube video of a few elephants who were just stumbling around drunk. Hilarious!
2 脗路 Wild Elephant said
True, and everyone should visit the Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage in Sri Lanka. Better than any zoo, for sure. You can feed them yourself, watch them bathing and playing around, etc. The orphanage is not-for-profit, and run by the state to care for baby elephants orphaned due to poaching or landmines. Elephant dung has a high cellulose content, so the orphanage is also boosting the local economy by supplying dung to paper-making cottage industries that are springing up around it.
As per many ‘aanakathakal’ in Kerala, elephants are known to mourn the death of their human loved ones too: when my great grandfather, who owned two elephants, passed away, the elephants were away at the lumberyards in the high ranges (cruelty to the animals, perhaps, but that is how elephants earn their keep in Kerala). On their return, they realised he was no more and one of them refused to eat for a week or move from the place where he was tethered. They were also said to have a shed a lot of tears (I was only a fifth grader when it happened and didn’t live in the same house, so do not know how much of the story is true 馃檪
10 脗路 cicatrix said
And 60 minutes recently devoted an entire segment to an elephant orphanage in Africa.
Awww….that’s so sad. Baby elephants are the cutest !! I love the hathis…they look like gentle giants!
Wow, yet another brilliant idea to make South Asia rich . . . .
Thanks for bringing the story to our attention. In a better world, Elephants, and other wild animals, would only be living in the wild, not in Zoos or, shudder, the circus.
Story in NDTV many years ago: An elephant in Delhi became sick, and they brought in another to help in holding it up etc. The sick elephant died after a while, the helper elephant then refused to eat for weeks, and finally died.
Kerala has some amazing elephant stories, but only available in Malayalam! 馃檪 Kerala also has a an “elephant science” book, named Mathanga Leela.
“speaking of animal grief, did anyone else catch this about the beached whales. pretty freaky. they seem to do it of their own volition.”
or because of sonar by naval vessals
It would be an interesting desi-excercise to search for the meaning of english words/names and their variants in regional languages (if any). For e.g. based on your linguistic logic I suppose Anna likes “Rice” too…
There was this elephant movie I saw repeatedly as a kid. Think Old Yeller but with an elephant and in hindi. Such a depressingly amazing (or maybe amazingly depressing) movie. God I wish I could remember the name of it. Elephant and boy are best friends and the love each other and are happy (skip to end) elephant dies saving little boy. Anybody else remember this???
19 脗路 Sid Watal said
dont know about that, but I remember this series of a boy with his punjabi kangaroo named skipinder. it’s sort of the same lines as you described. here’s a clip .
Was that boy Anna’s “Anna” 馃槈 ?
A Madras temple elephant once sneezed on my baby niece and me when I refused to pay a gang of kids who pestered me for a lot of money to even go near the elephant. Their snot makes for great Ultra-Hold hair gel, let me tell you. Perhaps these wonderful creatures can earn their keep via Haathi Hair Products or Aanai Ennai (Elephant Oil).
In for more animal intuition and utter heartbreak? Read this latest from Discover on Alex the parrot.
remember that awful story of the chimpanzee who was shot dead after he chewed off his “owner’s” friend’s face. the utterly wrenching part was that after he was shot, he crawled off into his home trying to get to his room where his toys were kept. the poor fellow was just trying to get home. it’s as uncool to anthropomorphize as it is to use sentient beings as accessories.
18 脗路 Priya said
agreed. since my kname is khoofah i like the loofah. ve exfoliate vith a wengeance.
18 脗路 Priya said
“Rice” in Malayalam is “chor”, AFAIK. In Punjabi, I thought it was “chawal”.
I linked to an ancient post on my personal blog which explains the “linguistic logic” of the Anna/elephant thing, but if anyone didn’t read it, it’s zimbly that when I was four and in Kerala, I pronounced “Anna” the same way I did at school– and that’s how you say “elephant” in Malayalam. To say my baptized, formal name in Malayalam is more like “UN-ay”. I’ve never pronounced it like that. And it’s not like that’s what my parents or family called me, so I didn’t know any better. What language were you thinking of, for “rice”? 馃檪
25 脗路 A N N A said
shuddh hindi? many sanskrit-derived languages prolly use that word too. pronounced : un-nuh.
26 脗路 portmanteau said
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blockquote>25 脗路 A N N A said
it could be pineapple too – as in spanish or hindi.
In Kannada and I think Telugu too it’s “annam.”
I think anna means uncle or brother in one of the north indian languages.
This is my favorite elephant related clip: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4696315n
I think it means “brother” in Telugu or Kannada. My family speaks some strange version of Kannada with a lot of Telugu interspersed so I never really learned which words go in which language.
In Malayalam, the Sanskrit derived version of un-nuh is un-num. I am not sure, but I think Annam in Malayalam means food in general, rather than rice in particular, which is ari when uncoooked and chor after.
And as ANNA may have heard, the name Anna has an Annum version too – my sister was called Annamkunju when she was a baby based on her baptismal name Anna, though her official name is a two letter Sanskrit one!
Don’t forget pronunciation.
ANNA pronounced “Aanuh” or “Aanai” is Tamil/Malayalam for elephant. ANNA pronounced “Un-naah” is Tamil for brother. ANNA pronounced “Un-nuh” is Sanskrit/religious Tamil for rice or food in general.
ANNA pronounced “Aa-Nah,” with that weird Indian roll-of the-tongue emphasis on the N, is former Indian currency equivalent to 1/16th of a rupee.
Considering the above, Anna the blogger’s name matches the Tamil/Malayalam word for “elephant” the best.
I like elephants, rhinos, and blue whales.
I like elephants, but I think deer are tastier.
Maitri, Yoga fire have answers to your question. I came to know from a friend that there is such a word in Kannada for rice pronounced as Anna but with more emphasis on the “nn” though.
34 脗路 Rahul said
I am partial to these treats myself, old pajama.
Khoof, that’s some serious lard icing on those dogs. If they were battered and fried it would be food fit for the gods and Elvis.
it is actually “ari”. Cooked rice is “chor”. so you eat “chor” but you grind “ari” subtle difference 馃槈
This story totally got to me too! When I was living in Guatemala City, there was a female elephant in the zoo there named Mocosita who would walk back and forth, dangerously close to the ditch, back and forth, all day long. It was tragic. She passed away last year and it really does make you think about zoos in general and putting such wonderful creatures in such alien environments…
19 脗路 Sid Watal said
Is it “Haathi Mere Saathi”? =) I only remember this b/c when a wedding of an Indian couple was featured in NY Times, the groom’s parents mentioned he got a haathi for his wedding b/c of this movie. 馃槢
So sad to hear about the haathi. May she rest in peace and hope the rest are being looked after.
sniff : ( I love elephants
For anyone interested, there is a very moving PBS Documentary (from the “Nature” series) called “Echo of the Elephants.” It really shows how amazing elephants really are.
Anna,
I knew that you had a German Shepherd (GSD), but I didn’t realize that you had 3 of them. I had one as a 7 year old, and he was amazing. I loved your story about your GSDs, and I thought it was touching. I’d LOVE to hear more memoirs regarding your GSD.