Can suck brains through trunk!

Very busy and exhausting week this one, I'll be glad when it is done! I suspect I have only made it through without committing homicide thanks to Beethoven and Sigur Ros on the iPod (I like my angst orchestral). Sigh. Though it looks as though I am about to inherit a new mag to do a rescue job on, which will be fun!

The BIG news in Sydney this week is our Zombie Baby Elephant. There are a group of Thai elephants at Taronga Zoo who are the source of many inches of copy in local publications, both for and against. On the whole, I prefer my elephants in the wild. However, given the choice between harbourside setting and used as industrial power source in Thailand, harbourside is better. A lot of money has been put into the Taronga enclosure and a lot of support staff, too. Having visited a number of elephant sanctuaries in Africa and Asia, the Sydney set up is not bad.

All of which is preamble to this week's events. One of the elephant cows was pregnant and expected to give birth last week. She went into labour, but nothing happened. After several days of this, she was given an ultrasound, and the calf was found to be upside down in a position that meant it could not be born successfully. Worse, it was showing absolutely no signs of life. It was announced the calf had died, and the vets, like the other elephants, relaxed and stopped shadowing the mother, as stillborn calves can take weeks and months to finally be delivered (elephants, like kangaroos, have complex and fascinating reproductive systems.)

Very early yesterday morning, a keeper went in to check on the mother. She was looking a bit stunned, and the keeper noticed blood on her leg, so assumed she had delivered the dead calf. She saw a lump and went over to check. The lump raised his little head. The keeper, who I imagine had a minor freakout at that point, started calling for vets and help and went over to give assistance to the newborn. Mum elephant has allowed the keepers and vets to help get the baby up and about, and, despite being poorly, baby has been walking unaided and suckling, so may even survive long term!

People are calling it a miracle elephant, but obviously it is a Zombie and will be using that prehensile trunk for the new and improved brain extraction through ears method. It's damn cute, though, take a look: 


In other news, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to powerflower11 , and for yesterday to absdax  and lilliputian722 . I hope you all have the luck of a Taronga elephant and an absolute absence of the undead! Well, Abs can have Ianto, but that's it!

Oh, and re my last post: I should have known that a warning of  'OH GOD THIS IS AWFUL DO NOT READ' would see you lot clicking in droves.

Can suck brains through trunk!

Very busy and exhausting week this one, I'll be glad when it is done! I suspect I have only made it through without committing homicide thanks to Beethoven and Sigur Ros on the iPod (I like my angst orchestral). Sigh. Though it looks as though I am about to inherit a new mag to do a rescue job on, which will be fun!

The BIG news in Sydney this week is our Zombie Baby Elephant. There are a group of Thai elephants at Taronga Zoo who are the source of many inches of copy in local publications, both for and against. On the whole, I prefer my elephants in the wild. However, given the choice between harbourside setting and used as industrial power source in Thailand, harbourside is better. A lot of money has been put into the Taronga enclosure and a lot of support staff, too. Having visited a number of elephant sanctuaries in Africa and Asia, the Sydney set up is not bad.

All of which is preamble to this week's events. One of the elephant cows was pregnant and expected to give birth last week. She went into labour, but nothing happened. After several days of this, she was given an ultrasound, and the calf was found to be upside down in a position that meant it could not be born successfully. Worse, it was showing absolutely no signs of life. It was announced the calf had died, and the vets, like the other elephants, relaxed and stopped shadowing the mother, as stillborn calves can take weeks and months to finally be delivered (elephants, like kangaroos, have complex and fascinating reproductive systems.)

Very early yesterday morning, a keeper went in to check on the mother. She was looking a bit stunned, and the keeper noticed blood on her leg, so assumed she had delivered the dead calf. She saw a lump and went over to check. The lump raised his little head. The keeper, who I imagine had a minor freakout at that point, started calling for vets and help and went over to give assistance to the newborn. Mum elephant has allowed the keepers and vets to help get the baby up and about, and, despite being poorly, baby has been walking unaided and suckling, so may even survive long term!

People are calling it a miracle elephant, but obviously it is a Zombie and will be using that prehensile trunk for the new and improved brain extraction through ears method. It's damn cute, though, take a look: 


In other news, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to powerflower11 , and for yesterday to absdax  and lilliputian722 . I hope you all have the luck of a Taronga elephant and an absolute absence of the undead! Well, Abs can have Ianto, but that's it!

Oh, and re my last post: I should have known that a warning of  'OH GOD THIS IS AWFUL DO NOT READ' would see you lot clicking in droves.