Elephants have always been my favorite animal, with all their complexities, intelligence, social structure and beauty. I mourn for those in captivity, but also for those persecuted in the wild. They are an irreplaceable gift of Nature.
I agree with your assessment. Elephants and orangutans are, for me, perched above just about every other creature, noting a special carve-out for dogs. That we treat both elephants and orangutans as we do torments me. If I could grant them personhood, I believe I would.
The image makes me feel sad, too.
Elephants have always been my favorite animal, with all their complexities, intelligence, social structure and beauty. I mourn for those in captivity, but also for those persecuted in the wild. They are an irreplaceable gift of Nature.
I agree with your assessment. Elephants and orangutans are, for me, perched above just about every other creature, noting a special carve-out for dogs. That we treat both elephants and orangutans as we do torments me. If I could grant them personhood, I believe I would.
My daddy was a writer and a poet.
He loved elephants above all creatures.
He would become one.
His arm was his trunk,
and he waved it like a conductor's wand
as he bellowed with gusto in the night
Funt Funt the elephant, he said was his name.
I was blessed to be raised
in Funt Funt's jungle.
Am still there.
That’s pretty amazing. A father who can become an elephant at will, to entertain his daughter, is an indication that hope lives.