Elli

My name is Monique and I come from the mid-eastern part of Africa where I work at a rescue foundation. Here we save any animal that is in need of our attention. We had one particular animal here that was the most interesting of all times. Our girl Elli. She was thee most beautifully amazing creature this land could ever want or care for.

Elli was rescued when she was a tiny tot. Poachers had shot her mother for her tusks and left the baby there to die along side her mother. With no one to care for her she was afraid and left by her dead mother’s side. It was about a week when we had learned that there was a baby elephant alive and lying by the side of her dead mother.

Immediately we were on our way to see get to this baby elephant before anything came of harm to it out there. Luckily when we arrived, there was the baby lying next to her dead mother. She was lucky to have been hidden within the trees and bushes of the prairie. She was so afraid and so weak from being without food or cover for at least a week that we knew of.

It was a time trying to get her into the back of the cargo truck. It took lots of patients and persuasion. She was the most timid creature I had ever encountered. Her beauty could be seen with the shine that she carried in those big, deep, dark, wonderful eyes of hers. Once we managed to get Elli into the back of the truck it was off to the refuge to see what needed to be done to help this little one survive. She was weak from no food or water. We put Elli into a nice

She loved to wrap her trunk around you. It was like she could read you by feeling you with the very tip of her nose which seemed to feel you like she was trying to read who you were. Her nose was soft almost like the feel of wet silk. Her body felt of prickly little hairs on the most dense feeling skin that she wore upon her body.

Her feet were so wonderfully big! She was a fast runner and loved to go on walks beside me. You could see her soul in her eyes. Her heart was as big as the world, it seemed. I slept with Elli for about the first month that she was on our refuge. After she became comfortable enough, I was sleeping back in my own bed.

I would wake up in the morning with Elli waking me with her head stuck in my window and her trunk lightly feeling around for any movement. She was like, it’s time to wake up. I would wake up and take my coffee and Bambalouni which are traditional Tunisian doughnuts that are especially popular in the village of Sidi Bou Said. They are made with flour, hot water, yeast, and salt. After the dough has been prepared, it is fried in hot oil until golden brown, and the doughnuts are then sprinkled with sugar on top. Elli loved them, so I would spend my morning with Elli drinking my coffee and sharing my Bambalouni.

Elli and I spent lots of time together. Elli would follow me around while I was out leaving food for some of the animals that we had on our refuge. I would drive around on longer runs to make sure that everything was looking good. No problems. Elli would be waiting for me when I returned. She was like a loyal dog waiting for her owner to return.

It was such an honor to have known Elli. Sad fully she passed away from pneumonia after about 10 years with us. It was a sad time for me trying to get used to no elephant waiting for me, waking me up, or sharing my breakfast or day with. Then one day, about a month after Elli’s passing, we received a call about another baby elephant being left with its dead mother.

We rescued him as well and called him Jonis. He had a lot of Elli’s traits and I fell in love with him immediately. Today Jonis has taken Elli’s place and has filled the whole I had in my heart. He is the love of my life, and he waits for my return after each outing. We have breakfast together every morning and we walk together to make sure that everything is going okay around the refuge near out our home on the refuge.