ELEPHANT CAUGHT IN TUG OF WAR.Byline: David Bloom Daily News Staff Writer Calle's had a tough life. She was taken from her mother in the wild at 1, forced into a vagabond VAGABOND. One who wanders about idly, who has no certain dwelling. The ordinances of the French define a vagabond almost in the same terms. Dalloz, Dict. Vagabondage. See Vattel, liv. 1, Sec. 219, n. circus performer's life for two decades, chained in a Las Vegas hotel basement for two years, and then turned upside down in an accident in Mexico. It was only in the past three years, with a quiet retirement beckoning, that Calle the elephant seemed to find peace. But it wasn't to be. Calle now is mired mire n. 1. An area of wet, soggy, muddy ground; a bog. 2. Deep slimy soil or mud. 3. A disadvantageous or difficult condition or situation: the mire of poverty. v. in a battle between animal-rights groups, as well as the Los Angeles and San Francisco zoos. Complicating everything else is that fact that Calle has tuberculosis and hates the taste of the medicine that could make her well. But despite Calle's numerous predicaments, she has fans - more fans than some elephants have peanuts. ``She's a real people animal and comes right out and notices people,'' said Nancy Chan, the San Francisco Zoo's public relations director. In fact, the pachyderm's popularity is part of the problem. People want to keep her around. Calle's latest troubles started last fall, when she knocked down a trainee animal keeper at the Los Angeles Zoo The Los Angeles Zoo founded in 1966, is a large zoo located in Los Angeles, California, USA. The Zoo, located in Los Angeles' Griffith Park, is home to 1,200 animals from around the world. , breaking his collarbone col·lar·bone n. See clavicle. . Zoo officials were unsure whether she intentionally tried to hurt the keeper, but as a precaution they moved her to a Riverside County wildlife center, then in March to the San Francisco Zoo. Meanwhile, members of the Orange County chapter of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is an international nonprofit organization that supports Animal Rights and has spawned a tremendous amount of conflict and controversy from its inception. , or PETA Quadrillion (10 to the 15th power). See space/time. , offered to raise $150,000 to $200,000 to settle Calle at an elephant retirement sanctuary in Tennessee. Los Angeles Zoo officials signed an agreement in June with PETA to send Calle to Tennessee, but within 24 hours, Calle tested positive for tuberculosis. A quarantine was slapped on Calle at the San Francisco Zoo, and suddenly all bets were off for Calle's rosy retirement. She couldn't be transferred across state lines with an active case of TB. And no one knows what it takes to treat elephantine Elephantine (ĕl'əfăntī`nē), island, SE Egypt, in the Nile below the First Cataract, near Aswan. In ancient times it was a military post guarding the southern frontier of Egypt. cases of tuberculosis. But despite it all, Calle has been a public relations windfall for the San Francisco Zoo, said Chan. For example, an offhand off·hand adv. Without preparation or forethought; extemporaneously. adj. also off·hand·ed Performed or expressed without preparation or forethought. See Synonyms at extemporaneous. comment in one Chan press release sparked massive media interest in ways to get Calle to take her 500 bitter pills a day, with suggestions to put them in food ranging from sherbet sher·bet n. 1. also sher·bert A frozen dessert made primarily of fruit juice, sugar, and water, and also containing milk, egg white, or gelatin. 2. Chiefly British A beverage made of sweetened diluted fruit juice. to yogurt to curry, the spicy dish of her native Southeast Asia. ``People have really taken an interest and concern in Calle,'' Chan said. Although Calle has won hearts in San Francisco, PETA members want the L.A. Zoo to send Calle to the Tennessee sanctuary when her tuberculosis is no longer active. ``If the L.A. Zoo is truly concerned about putting an animal in the best possible conditions, then she should go to Tennessee, where there are hundreds of acres of land where she can roam free,'' said PETA spokeswoman Jane Garrison. Right now, Los Angeles Zoo officials say they don't know what will happen to Calle next, in part because of uncertainties about what will happen with the TB treatments. Chan said the San Francisco Zoo officials would love to keep Calle with another elephant, Tinkerbelle, long enough to see whether the two prove compatible. Already, they tap on the separating walls and ``talk'' with each other all night long. |
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