An Elephant's Tale

The National Geographic Feature Story(March 2007) on Elephants at the Zakouma National Park in Africa made me cry. These gentle creatures are ruthlessly poached for their tusks! As soon as the elephants cross the sanctuary of the park, Arab nomads and poachers hunt them down - they shoot nearly 8 bullets and then when the elephant finally succumbs, they chop off the head and scurry lest the authorities catch them. One incident described in the feature also said that the lake in the Sanctuary had been poisoned which caused the death of a few elephants and several thousand other animals which grace the park from Jan-May before the rains begin...

This feature story inspired me to write this - from the point of view of a scene described in the feature. A 40 year old female guides the younger ones to the lake to quench their thirst on a dry May evening. Following her is the entire herd and the author (Mike Fay) had the amazing opportunity of witnessing the socializing (which is often characteristic of these animals - or rather was...) of nearly 150 elephants along the river bank edge for a full 4 minutes, before they retreated into the 'safety' of the jungles - in fear of being too exposed to the most ruthless animal - MAN..

SAY NO TO IVORY!

I approached the water cautiously
The younger ones in front of me
Were demonstrating their displeasure
At having to wait by the river's edge
But it wasn't worth being foolhardy
And regreting later.

I scanned the area around
With the keen eyes that I'm proud of
First I looked for signs of the others
Who usually like to come in large groups
With their feriocious roars
And sharp, stinging teeth
They corner us -
Its usually one of the little, adventurous ones
And then...

Anyways,
No sign equals a good sign - for me
A tiny groan of satisfaction nearly escapes me
The little ones are still impatiently watching
They grow even more restless by the second
But I still say
Its not worth being foolhardy
And regretting later.

The others are here
They are quenching their thirsts as well
It is getting unbearably hot
If the others are here..
Surely that means..

Those ANIMALS aren't here!
With their weird trees
Which they somehow hold awkwardly
Between their front limbs
While they balance themselves on the other two
They produce those dreaded sounds
Which usually signals the onset
Of Death.

They've taken too many of us already
I'm beginning to even like our hairy, golden friends!
Them seem like angels in comparison...

But I cannot see them today
So I signal to the little ones
And dash to the water
They know its nearly the end of my routine
So they are excited

I walk over to the water edge
And take a deep long drink
The younger ones look at me expentantly
And after a few minutes
I nod my head at them

It tastes like water
Not like the other day
When I lost my mother
When the water didn't seem like water
I'd wanted to stay there by her side
She was screaming in pain
But nanny took me away then
And I'd hardly begun running
When I heard a shot pierce the air
And I heard the last sound of my dear mother

But at least today the little ones can drink
And play and roll about the sands
And know the pleasures
That were somehow stolen away from us
Maybe it was just me
When I was born it was all fine
Now, I'm hardly 40
But it seems like I'm in a different world
I don't want to be.