Welcome to Heaven on Earth. Hohenwald, TN. Yes, small town USA, TN. There is a place called "The Elephant Sanctuary" that is just that...a place for these most awesome creatures to live out the rest of their lives in total peace and tranquility. 3000 acres of gorgeous, rolling hills for these elephants to roam FREEly.I'm a HUGE advocate of elephants, as you may be able to tell. I've always loved them-known they are smart and wiser than they may appear. And, sadly, they are treated so inhumanly most of their lives-fighting to stay alive from poachers in Africa and Asia, suffering from horrific conditions and abuse in circuses...and living in inhabitable locations at zoos.
Yes, i will get on my soapbox for 2 seconds....please, i implore you all...DO NOT support circuses w/ animals-you don't even want to know what they do to these animals while training them-or even while they have them chained up hours and hours each day. And, sadly, even zoos are a horrible place for elephants-did you know elephants in Africa walk up to 30 miles a day! They are meant to roam for miles and miles...so most in zoos end up w/ horrible feet problems and health issues. Now, of course i take my children to the zoo-but i don't condone the elephant exhibits. I've written to my local zoo several times-you can do the same.
Anyhow, off my soap box...for my Christmas present this year, my dear husband surprised me w/ a VIP tour to the "Elephant Sanctuary" in Tennessee. The Sanctuary is not open to the public-they believe the elephants have lived their whole lives on display-this time, they are not for show. So, if you donate X amount of dollars, they allow you to attend a VIP tour. There are only 2 a year. So, i took my mom....and we had the time of our life-it really was like heaven.
This is Scott Blais, one of the Founders of the Sanctuary
And this AMAZING woman is Carol Buckley, the other Founder of The Elephant Sanctuary...let me tell you...an AMAZING woman-she needs to write a book of her life-she's living the dream and has nothing but TRUE love for these beautiful creatures! Thank god for people like her on this earth...
This is Dulary...she's not in a cage-she's just poking her head to say hi to us-this is right outside her barn-we were eating lunch on a veranda above-notice all the dirt on her back-the elephants love to toss grass and dirt on themselves! :)
My dear Mom, myself and Carol
This is a picture of Steve Hartman, the CBS Correspondent that aired the piece on "Tara & Bella" I will try to attach the video to my blog-it's a beautiful story of two unlikely friends! :) He just happened to be on the same tour as me-his wife and him are lovely people!
You can support "The Elephant Sanctuary" as well. Their website is:www.elephants.com
I can attest...your money will not be wasted-this was the most well run, cleanest, and loving establishment i've ever seen-they have everything to caring and feeding these elephants down to
a science! I was SO impressed!
This is the video of "Tarra & Bella"
Lastly, I had my 20 yr. high school reunion this weekend...and saw a dear friend of mine, Jim, that i haven't seen in 10 years!! So, this last picture is of my 2 best girl friends and my dear friend Jim who now lives in La La land out in California! :) He's a drummer-stud!
