Introductions

I thought I’d take today to introduce everyone, since I’ve yet to formally do so. While I have yet to really get to know the Asian elephants, I know their general demeanor, so we’ll just go off of that for now.

The Humans:
Turk: The head honcho of the group, a 5’ 2”, 22-year old, chain-smoking, strawberry-blonde with an attitude sharp enough to cut cold butter.
Stacey ,“Stilts”: As you might’ve guessed, the tall one. Thin as a rail, 27 years old, with a deep voice to suit her boyish demeanor, though she spends an awful lot of time on her hair. Also a chain-smoker.
Johnny: The Redneck of the group. Your typical Southern boy, though with less interpersonal skills. Wears a lot of camo and has got an accent to match. Also, as you might’ve presumed, a chain-smoker.
Pete: An intern from Stockton, New Jersey. He’s been here for 3 weeks already, along with Zoe, who happens to go to the same school as he does. He’s the “Watcher,” which I find refreshing from all of the “Doers”. He works, but he’s also always watching the elephants. You can tell he’s here for a reason.
Zoe: An intern also from New Jersey. She’s the complainer of the bunch. She mostly complains about how other people tell her she’s not doing a great job, but then again she’s on the phone a lot and tends not to work when someone of authoritative status isn’t around. She’s nice, but she’ll talk your ear off with all of the things wrong with the day.
Scott: The owner of the sanctuary, the go-to guy for all elephant training. You can’t handle an elephant, then he’s your guy. Not much of a talker, but man can he make an elephant obey. Sometimes I wonder how that works…
Heidi: Scott’s wife, in charge of mostly public relations for the sanctuary. Not very friendly either.

The Dogs:
Lucy, “Lou-Lou,” “Luce”: Australian Shepard. She’s an outside dog, just like every other animal here, but she loves all of the humans. She won’t eat human food you give to her until you leave, and after a while she’ll steal it from you if you aren’t paying attention. She barks all throughout the night, mostly at shadows, but has one hell of a heart. She and Frick enjoy playing “Dead Cat” and scaring me into thinking that the cat in her mouth is, in fact, frozen and dead, and not simply complying with Lucy’s wished to chew on him.
Hazel, “Chunky,” “Chunks”: A mutt, with the appearance of a small pug mixed with some other small, red-coated dogs. She’s your favorite lap dog, and not the bad kind. You give her the chance and she’s up in your lap, loving the heat. She loves marshmallows and has honed the skill of shivering on command in order to be pitied enough to be let inside. Her nickname is Chunky because she is, in fact, quite a Chunker.

The Cats:
Frick n’ Frack: The two infamous orange and white striped, cross-eyed cats of the bunch. They’ve got a thousand brothers here, it seems like, but they are always together, perched on the sill outside the cookhouse, waiting for some love to walk through the door.

The Elephants:
Amy: Betsy’s mom, a calm and complacent African elephant once in the circus. She’s a great mom, and probably too patient, considering how much time she spends inside with her little ball of curiosity.
Miss Bets, “Bets,” “Betsy”: An inquisitive little ball of energy, with crazy eyes that always seem to be rolling around in her head in search for excitement. She enjoys sticking her trunk through the bars at whoever’s closest, and likes to bug mom by standing in front of her when Amy’s trying to get somewhere.
Toby: African. The dope of the group, but impossible not to love. He was born with some hormone disorder that prevented him from ever going through puberty, so he’s small for his age. He also has much higher estrogen levels than any of the females here, so that may explain why he’s so uncharacteristically docile. Usually bulls can be pretty violent, or at least rambunctious.
Maximus, “Max”: The 7-year old African; first elephant to be conceived and birthed at the sanctuary, Bets being the second. He enjoys sticking her tusks through the bars of his cage to poke Toby, and is often bad at obeying commands. He likes to swing her head back in forth in a large pendulum-like motion, and tends to be the most hyper of the Africans.
Hank: The Asian Giant. Hank stands 16 feet tall at the shoulder, a frightening sight as such a small animal that I am in comparison. Hank was in the Ringling Bros. Circus before he came to the sanctuary, and has a long history of aggression and violence. We’re only ever allowed in the barn to let Hank out and back in when Scott is there, because he’s been known to charge on multiple occasions. He’s sort of the meany of the group.
Peggy: Asian. I haven’t gotten much of a feel for either Peggy or Booper, but I can tell you one thing about them: one of them sways and one of them nods. It’s the only way to really tell them apart. When they’re out in their enclosure, they tend to stand in the same spot, where Peggy sways back and forth while Booper nods or “boops” up and down.
Betty Boop, “Booper”: See above. Asian. Gail and I like to play a game when Booper’s outside, asking her questions like, “Is Gail the prettiest girl in the world?” to which Booper will adamantly agree.

Note: It’s harder to get to know the Asian elephants because the ones here have a stronger tendency towards violence. The elephants here aren’t exactly the best representations of their species, as many of them are here simply because no one else could handle them.