PACHYDERM PALS TRIO GOES IN DEBT TO SAVE ELEPHANTS.

Byline: Kathleen Sweeney Staff Writer

ACTON - In the hills of the San Gabriel Mountains outside this tiny town is a place where Butch and Buffy get their feet cleaned, their food served and a mud bath anytime they wish.

It's thousands of miles from their native African homeland and less from a Eutawville, S.C., petting zoo where they last worked entertaining and giving children rides.

They arrived Wednesday at their retirement home in Acton, on the rural outskirts of Santa Clarita, courtesy of a trio that has scraped together $50,000 to save the lumbering animals.

``They enjoy rolling around and throwing mud on themselves,'' said Heather Greaux, one of the elephants' caretakers. ``This is their first morning in California, and the sun came with them.''

It took months for Butch and Buffy to reach their new home at the Serengeti Ranch after the Elephants of Africa Rescue Society, a nonprofit organization, was established in October to offer African elephants a safe habitat.

Greaux, ranch owner Hayden Rosenaur and Charlie Sammut, owner of The Wild Things Ranch in Northern California, combined their resources to save Butch and Buffy after hearing about their living conditions.

The pair's lives as just elephants began Wednesday morning at Serengeti and it started with a mud bath.

The elephants' trainer had left South Carolina a year earlier, leaving them with an owner who didn't know how to handle and care for the animals. Butch and Buffy spent half the year in a barn without much human contact.

Greaux, Rosenaur and Sammut applied for personal loans and brought them to the California sanctuary.

Though expensive, elephants living in captivity have a chance at a longer, healthier life, Greaux said.

It's one reason these elephants came to the United States about 20 years ago. The South African government was culling elephants from herds because a growing population was taking over the land.

Elephants require spacious areas as they typically travel in circles, destroying the land and vegetation in their path, Greaux said. Before roaming ranges became scarce, they would travel within that circle throughout the year and end up where they started. By then, the land was renewed and vegetation was plentiful.

But as the population grew, that circle became smaller and the habitat wasn't growing back quickly enough for the elephants to survive.

The government began killing some and shipping others to the United States, Greaux said.

``You can't save the land and animals,'' she said.

Some were shipped to zoos, and others were sold as backyard pets. It's still legal to own elephants as pets in South Carolina, but California has strict laws allowing only those with special training permits to care for the animals. EARS is working on saving another African elephant it has heard is a pet and is being abused.

Butch, 22, and Buffy, 18, could live 55 to 65 years in captivity, compared with half that life span in the wild, Greaux said. But they will be separated in coming days because Buffy, the younger, dominant female, abuses Butch. Buffy will live in Northern California at the other sanctuary.

Whether they live at the Serengeti or Wild Things ranch, EARS will give the elephants food each day, keep their soft, padded feet clean, and once they adapt to the 120-acre ranch, the animals will take trips to the nearby creek for playtime.

``If they lose their teeth, we'll grind up food and give it to them,'' Greaux said. ``In captivity, it's like a health spa.''

The nonprofit organization needs financial help to pay the loans and care for the elephants that each eat 150 to 300 pounds of food a day. Anyone who wishes to donate to the organization can contact EARS at [phone] or visit its Web site at www.elephantears.org.

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color -- ran in Valley edition only) Hayden Rosenaur, left, and Charlie Sammut toss fruit and bread into the waiting mouths of Butch and Buffy, respectively, in Acton.

(2 -- color in SAC edition only) Butch grabs an apple at his new home in Acton.

(3 -- color -- ran in SAC edition only) Butch, left, and Buffy explore their new play area at the Serengeti Ranch outside Acton.

(4 -- ran in SAC edition only) Butch, left, and Buffy take a drink after finishing their first meal at the Serengeti Ranch.

John Lazar/Staff Photographer