Free for all Friday - Elephant Love

For this free for all Friday I wanted to tell you about something very near and dear to my heart.. Animals. I love them soo much I truly cannot put it into words. I was born with a special place in my heart for them, and am consistently reminded of this daily with how much I love my pug Lilly. I’m lucky that my family has the same love for animals so I’ve been surrounded by them my whole life.

My late grandfather and I share a love for Elephants. They truly fascinate me, I could sit and watch them for hours and feel completely fulfilled. That being said, I’d love to tell you about an amazing PAWS Elephant wildlife sanctuary located in Galt, California. A wild life sanctuary is a place of safety and comfort where abused, injured and abandoned captive wildlife may live in peace for the remainder of their lives.

True wildlife sanctuaries do not breed or exploit the animals in ANY way. In Galt the elephants live in hundreds of acres of natural terrain, they have lakes to bathe in and they even have therapeutic Jacuzzis!!!

This was Minnie unfortunatly she has passed away. Minnie had been experiencing a recurrence of her urinary tract infections and bladder problems for many years. During her last bout, Minnie refused most food and water except for cranberry sauce and cereal. They thought she was starting to feel better.. January 21, she had her very best day, playing with Rebecca and chirping and squeaking at her keepers who were delighted to see her joyful behavior. Ed Stewart, one of her favorite people, spent most of the day with her, fed her buckets of her favorite treats. Ed gave her a very warm bath, and she spent several hours throwing dirt, & chirping . Everyone was delighted with her progress. Later in the day Minnie and Rebecca went into their dirt stall in the barn, and ate hay and dusted in the late afternoon. Her keeper Jon served meals to Minnie and Rebecca, and Minnie devoured every bit of her food. As Jon stood there warming up water for their drink, Minnie laid down and seemed to be going off to sleep. Jon called softly to her, then realized she had stopped breathing.





This is Annie (Asian elephant) unfortunately she suffers from arthritis and joint disease after years of standing on chains and beatings at the zoo.She spends her days roaming and grazing among the trees, swimming in the lake, dusting and mud-bathing before lying down to sleep on a sunny hill.

This is Gypsy and Nicholas (both Asian elephants), PAWS says they both love bath time out in the yard. Gypsy will use the muddy hill as a giant slip and slide and slide down the hill on her side. Walk back up the hill and the slide down on her other side. After each bath they will use each other to rub against and exfoliate, how cute!!!!



This is Lulu an African elephant, apparently shes a "tiny" thing compared to the rest of her friends at the habatitat.




You can donate two different ways; one is by adopting an animal such as the ones you have just read about. Or you can donate money in honor of one that has passed on like Mini...