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sunday benjamin okolie 2009-01-09 nigeria:

good day sir/ma my name is sunday benjamin okoliethe c.e.o benyashifarms ltd i wants to pay visit to slovenia and like to no if am wellcome to your zoo pls if am wellcome pls contact your embassy in cairo am in a tourist visit now in cairo and i well like to come from cairo to slovenia .thanks

Peter Adamson 2009-01-09 Stockport ,England:

HI, what a surprise i got when i did a google search for Kirsty the elephant,In approximately 1972/3 i was her keeper at Calder park Zoo in Glasgow,and i must say that they were 2 of the best years of my life, to be able to interract with such an intelligent and loving !!! yes loving animal, was a rare priviledge,Zoo practices in the 70s were of course vastly different than today,my duties as a keeper in those days was firstly to clean the accomodation for the animals in my care which included Tapirs, Bison, and Warthogs,then the rest of the day was devoted to kirsty providing as much stimulation for her as possible,this included playing football,which could get a little out of hand with her getting a little to excited and doing a lot of squeeking, she was alway very vocal,in the mornings when she would hear me arrive on my motorcycle she would begin to trumpet and dance and always appeared to be very pleased to see me , something else that i dont believe would be possible today is,that when she decided to have a rest in the afternoons she would lie down and i would lie with her between her front legs and under her head and we would both have a nap,never once did i feel that i was in any danger,she of course was only very young at the time but still large enough to do a great deal of damage if she wanted to, I was also surprised to soon find out than in the evening when the zoo had closed and it was time for me to leave,she had to be chained by the leg for the night,now whether it was the chain or the fact that i was leaving,it was then that i discovered that she appeared to cry with tears coming from her eyes and her trunk would be in her mouth , just like a baby and making little rumbling noises, I wonder if she still has any of these behaviors,another was on my arrival every morning she would lift her trunk and open her mouth for me to tickle and scratch her tongue, unfortunately my time at the was cut short , as i was told that i was to be replaced as her keeper by a 'Professional'strangely enough from Germany,the thought of not being with Kirsty and working at the Zoo was impossible for me so i took the decision to leave the very same day,and returned to the profession for which i was trained , a 'professional violinist',which I continued with till retirement in 2002, In 1982 almost ten years since we last met and just before kirsty left for chester Zoo I called the curator and asked if it would be possible to visit with my wife who had never seen Kirsty and say hello to her,he remembered me and said yes,he would inform the current keeper that i should if all agread that it appeared safe, be allowed to enter her enclosure,the moment i arrived and she saw me she lifted her trunk and pushed out her tongue and i went up to her and gave it a good scratch,just like we did every morning,we looked into each others eyes and i am sure she recognised me,the current keeper said he had never seen her do that before!!!! , Elephants really do never forget,and that was the last time I saw her , i do though have somewhere a photo of my reunion and the current keeper not looking too pleased at the way she reacted with me ,doing everything I asked her to do including lifting her leg for me to me step on to and being lifted up to sit on her neck,which i trained her to do during my time with her, Woderfull memories , I do hope that Kirsty is well and in the best of health and if there are any recent photos available from anybody i would love to see her again , I feel so honoured to have had this time with a magnificent animal and i am sure it has shaped me and my life in more ways than i could think of, Peter Adamson, kirsty N#1 fan

kate 2009-01-08 wilton:

i used this website to write a report on cynthia mos an i got a pretty good grade so thank you

manohar véda 2009-01-07 France:

I saw recently (octobre 2008 )Lakshmi elephant of Manakula vinayagar temple of Pondichéry walking with difficulties on the road. Can someone tell me what is her disease. I want to pray for her. Thank you

claire 2009-01-07 Ireland:

Does anyone have photos of Tami in Mendoza zoo, Argentina?

Janet Lambert 2009-01-06 Maryland:

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