FINALLY!! It has been a long struggle. I am very very excited for the 8 that will make their way to The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee. I am saddened (and very angered) by the deaths of Tess and Sue. I pray for "Joy" who ended up at Carson and Barnes. I hope that "Nicholas", the lone male, will make it to "Roar Foundation" and that "Gypsey" can too make the trip to TES one day.

For the whole Press Release, please go to:
http://www.elephants.com/pr/pr_1_28_06.htm

The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee
Begins the Largest Rescue of Needy Circus Elephants in U.S. History:
"The Caravan to Freedom"

Hohenwald, Tennessee (January 26,2006) - Scheduled to start this Sunday, or at the latest Monday, the first of 8 elephants whose relocation was mandated by the USDA, will begin the 12-hour journey from the Hawthorn Corporation in Richmond, Illinois to The Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tennessee. The entire group will be moved, two at a time, during the course of the next two weeks.

The move was prompted by a US Department of Agriculture action against the Hawthorn Corporation. The move to The Elephant Sanctuary, which is the nation's largest natural habitat refuge for African and Asian elephants, is the culmination of a two year effort to rescue this herd of elephants.

That's great. :D

But that is horrible about the other elephants that weren't as lucky. :(

awesome--sorry for the ones that didnt make it.

peace and love

jenn:pibo:

Please take a moment to watch this if you can to learn about this wonderful, wonderful place!! I hope they get lots of exposure.

Tara M.
Hawthorn/TES on CNN Paula Zahn 8pm EST tonite Feb 16 9:35 AM


HOHENWALD, Tennessee (CNN) -- "Keith, the Zahn show wants you to ride with two elephants from Illinois to Tennessee."

Assignments at my workplace, CNN's Chicago, Illinois, bureau, often come in such blunt fashion, but that one from "Paula Zahn Now" really got my attention.

"I'm doing what?" I asked.

It was no joke. I was being sent out the door to follow two female elephants named Billie and Frieda -- all the way from the Wisconsin border, to a remote spot in central Tennessee 600 miles away -- a place called the Elephant Sanctuary.

The Elephant Sanctuary, I would learn, is a 2,700-acre home for aging elephants in Hohenwald, Tennessee. It has been around for 10 years, maintaining a clear philosophy that elephants too often are neglected by zoos and circuses and need space as well as family to thrive.

As sanctuary co-founder Scott Blais put it: "I think the biggest thing we can provide for them here is the opportunity to evolve into who they are and who they are supposed to be."

Billie and Frieda were part of a group of eight females from the same elephant herd that would be moved to the sanctuary over a course of two weeks -- in fact, they were the last pair. The eight were former circus performers owned by the Hawthorn Corp.

A Hawthorn facility in northern Illinois rents out elephants to circuses. In the past few years, Hawthorn got into trouble with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, receiving numerous citations for not providing proper veterinary care for its elephants -- and for handling them in such a way that the animals were stressed and traumatized.

In 2004, Hawthorn entered into an agreement with the department to pay a $200,000 fine and to donate its elephants. The Elephant Sanctuary was the main beneficiary of that agreement.

The folks at Hawthorn declined an interview. Instead, they released a statement saying they were focused on getting the elephants "the best possible care." We stood outside the Hawthorn property, and from a distance, watched as Billie and Frieda were loaded onto a trailer.

It didn't take long. And the Elephant Sanctuary's Blais, who would escort these giant mammals to their new home, seemed pretty happy.

"What we're seeing from both of them is they're really, really calm," he said. "Frieda was talking a few minutes ago, and that's a great sign."

The trailer, I should note, didn't look unusual at all from the outside. But on the inside, there was Billie up front, munching on apples, carrots and hay. Frieda was in the back, all 11,000 pounds of her. They slept standing and didn't seem to mind the ride.

"So they're comfortable back there?" I asked.

"Oh, they're very comfortable," Blais said. "We have a heating unit that keeps the trailer right around 60 degrees."
Family reunion
Blais had to make quite a few stops. Elephants eat and drink -- a lot. Later that night, I don't think many folks at the truck stop in northern Indiana had any idea that when Blais was pulling a hose up to his truck, he was giving two elephants a nice big drink of water.

Down the road, he pulled into an abandoned rest area. Here, the humans driving the truck, and the elephants in the back, would get a few hours' sleep.

Next day, at noon, I sat in the cab of the semi as it pulled up the long driveway of the Tennessee sanctuary. Interestingly, the public is not allowed on the premises. It's much more of a refuge, than a zoo.

Instead, live pictures of the elephants stream on the sanctuary's Web site, one major way to bring in donations. In fact, while entering -- we were live on the Web.

I got out and took a look at the landscape, dotted with a herd of pachyderms. Suddenly, a story I had been reporting on for a day and a half was just beginning to make sense to me.

The other members of the herd were lining up -- sensing new arrivals. I thought to myself, "This is going to be a great family reunion."

It makes me cry reading that report! I can't remember crying so much as I did on that last day. A bunch of us (as we had done over the last 2 weeks with each arrival) were in chat watching them come on the Elecam. Billie and Freida - known rampagers - getting off that truck to freedom. Having their feet and their long long nails highlighted - their feet looked terrible. I wish them long, long lives.

Excellent Article on TES and Elephants in Circuses.
For the full article go to:
http://www.aquarianonline.com/Values/elephantsplace.htm

from The Aquarian, Spring 2006
AN ELEPHANT'S PLACE

Sanctuary, not Circus
By LESLEY WISE

This January, eight Asian elephants began a long awaited journey to paradise. These grand, aging ladies and former circus performers – Lottie, Minnie, Liz, Queenie, Debbie, Ronnie, Billie and Frieda – were granted an opportunity to live out their lives at an elephant sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tennessee. Two at a time over a period of two weeks, they made the trip by trailer from Richmond, Illinois, where they had spent the last two years chained inside a barren building with cement floors, to the thick green forests of Tennessee. They will now spend their remaining days roaming the 2700 acres of forest and meadows, soaking in the streams and ponds, napping together and sharing dust baths in an environment as close to their natural habitat as an Asian elephant will ever find in North America.

Never again will Lottie and her companions feel the bite of the circus trainer's bullhook or spend their days in chains. Longtime friends will never be parted. Their circus days are over.

Unfortunately, these are the lucky ones. For the hundreds of elephants still in the entertainment industry, life in the circus is a brutal grind that can last into the fifth or sixth decade of their lives. Many of the travelling circuses that perform every year in Canada and the United States and the companies that train and lease elephants to them have a long record of animal welfare violations, cruelty charges and convictions. One of the worst offenders, Hawthorn Corporation, was forced by the United States Department of Agriculture to surrender Lottie and her companions to Elephant Sanctuary after being found guilty of 19 counts of cruelty to elephants. Hawthorn leases elephants to the Tarzan Zerbini Circus which in turn provides elephant acts for the Shrine Circus. It's possible, even likely, that Lottie or other abused Hawthorn elephants have long been “entertaining” unsuspecting Winnipeg children under the Shrine Circus big top.