Who Would Want to Hurt Babar?

What kind of sick monster would poison an innocent animal???

That was my initial reaction when I saw the headline, but after reading this article I saw that no one intentionally poisoned these elephants. The poor pygmies most likely ate poisonous plants or pesticides (how’s that for alliteration). 

It’s still heart breaking. Especially this picture of the baby trying to wake his mom up.

this is straight out of Dumbo

Cue every Disney movie where the kid sees his mom/dad die; I immediately pictured Simba trying to wake up Mufasa and got all kinds of choked up.

In case you hadn’t noticed my button over on the right, I kind of like elephants. This isn’t shameless button-pushing; it’s actually relevant. Elephants are my favorite animal at the zoo, so I make it a point to get a picture of any elephant decor the zoo offers. 

Like every other ten year old girl, I wanted to be a marine biologist veterinarian. Working on cats and dogs all day? Helping them feel better? Getting to cuddle and belly rub to my hearts content? Where do I sign up? Oh, in the chem lab where I have to take about 50 science pre-req’s. Wait, I have to excel in math, too? You want me to do what to Wishbone? On second thought, I think I’ll go with a major where showing up to class hungover won’t entirely matter (who says state school students aren’t the best and brightest?)

I know this story is a downer, but I wanted to write about it b/c it matters to me. And let’s be honest, blogs are the most basic form of narcissism; see what’s going on w/ me, read what’s important to me, look at pictures of me. See a pattern here? 

If one reader sees this article and clicks on the World Wildlife Fund, that’s one person who’s informed about what we can do to help these guys. Amid all the “Me! Me! Me!” going on here, I’d like to believe that I can actually help others - including elephants.