AES President, Linda Reifschneider’s latest road trip for AES
I have always loved the circus – animals and the amazing talent of the acrobats, wire walkers, flyers – everyone. A year or so ago I joined the Circus Fans of America and then decided to go to their convention this year in Las Vegas from October 25th-28th. A good opportunity to introduce this audience to the work we are doing for Asian elephants - since to some, the circus may be the only way they are familiar with elephants. AES volunteer Cynthia Christison agreed to go along on the journey. Then, Mary Miller at the Memphis Zoo, reached out about doing a Pizza for Pachyderms fundraising event at a local venue, as they don’t have a California Pizza Kitchen nearby and she wanted to introduce AES to the Memphis AAZK (American Association of Zoo Keepers) Chapter. I mentioned it was an easy drive to Memphis and I’d be glad to come down and talk with their AAZK members. Lo and behold, the only date that worked was October 19th so Cynthia, ever game, agreed to go to Memphis and then make a turn west and head to Las Vegas. And, since we’d have a week to get there, some great stops along the way and back again: Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Albuquerque, and Topeka Zoos – a chance to see good friends (two and four-legged) who we hadn’t visited in some time.
Our trip begins on October 18th as we head down Interstate 55 toward Memphis, Tennessee.
Memphis Zoo Stop - Linda (center) with Liz & Mary
Memphis Zoo - October 19th and it was good to be back at the Memphis Zoo. A great turnout of 17 to hear about AES and I know they left that day enthused about participating in their Pizza for Pachyderms event for us – and for their African elephants’ Asian “cousins”. It was good to reconnect in person with Mary Miller and Amanda Schweighart, their Elephant Manager. We then enjoyed a great visit of the Zoo – a super destination for any who live there or are traveling that way, and not all that far from Graceland!
Thanks to Mary, Memphis AAZK, and all at Memphis Zoo for a great day and for hosting a successful and fun Pizza for Pachyderms on November 8th at the Memphis Pizza Café!
Tulsa Zoo - The 20th was a 400+ mile drive to Tulsa for a visit on the 21st. It is always a welcomed stop at Tulsa Zoo and connecting with Jessica Scallan Fidler, Elephant/Hoofstock Zoological Manager. Without even collaborating, she and I shared the same picture of the Golden Book Saggy Baggy Elephant on two separate presentations we gave years ago at two different conferences - both opening with that book being one of our earliest introductions to the wonders of elephants! Cynthia and I arrived early and enjoyed visiting most of the zoo before connecting with Jess in time to say hello to their Asian elephants, now including Booper (a special elephant lady I’ve had many past opportunities to scrub and enjoy the company of). And to top things off I had the lovely surprise seeing Kara McSweeney, who I first met years ago at an Elephant Managers Association Conference in Nashville, along with our mutual friend Jennifer Wu.
Tulsa Zoo Stop - (L-R) Cynthia, Jessica, Mitchell, Linda, Kara, Chance & Christina
We had a nice lunch and great time visiting with the entire elephant barn team. Afterwards we stopped to see their tiny new tiger cub who was wrapped tightly around mom’s head, both of them sound asleep and looking so very sweet.
And then it was time to say "‘til later", and head the 100+ miles to Oklahoma City.
Oklahoma City Zoo - I have fond memories of a couple of good visits to the Oklahoma City Zoo and accepted with great pleasure their Curator of Elephants and Rhinos, Rachel Emory’s invitation to arrive at the elephant barn around 9 a.m. on the 22nd and watch some of the bathing and training sessions. I found it impossible to not think of Malee, the charming young calf, another victim of EEHV (Elephant Endotheliotropic Herpesvirus), as every loss to that despicable disease is such a blow to the species and to the hearts of all who knew and cared for her. So, it was with extra joy and thanksgiving to be introduced to Kairavi, their youngest who is a recent survivor of EEHV thanks to the training, care, and dedication of “her people”. And, of course, there was Bamboo too…and to all her and my friends at Woodland Park Zoo, a trunk up hello!
Even a brief shower couldn’t dampen a great visit to the zoo’s many animal residents and we also enjoyed the amazing displays now mostly in place for the holiday season. It was good to enjoy lunch and a chance to visit with Rachel and the elephant crew and talk about the founding and work of AES. The timing was perfect for us to see the elephant presentation they do every Friday-Sunday. While the theme is usually the why and how of training and caring for the elephants, today was focused on enrichment as one of their supporters brought in a 160-pound watermelon – and the elephants knew exactly how to take care of that big, green goody! A group picture and goodbyes and thanks for a really wonderful day.
OKC Zoo Stop - (L-R) Marionna, Alex, Cynthia, Michelle, McKae, Linda & Rachel
The 23rd is another all driving day that ended with our “Thelma and Louise” moment for this trip. It took three warnings of ever longer-growing delays before I finally exited the Interstate and ultimately found us – where? – on a nicely paved and recently lined two-lane road, but with no signs. Evidently it was figured if you were on this road, you knew where you were going. Not so! My Android GPS kept giving me different short distances with turn right, but no road when we reached that spot, and then repeated the same nonsense. And Cynthia’s iPhone was spitting out its own baloney, mostly advising it was pondering a route. But the occupants of a nice red truck gave us good directions and I must admit we saw some beautiful scenery we’d have missed had we not taken this detour!
---Rest Stop here…we’ll continue the story of our trip in the December AES Newsletter---