Elephants make home in Fla. citrus grove

[joeybee12]

&logoxpos=0&logoypos=0

FELLSMERE - Forget peanuts. In the heart of Florida's citrus grove region, it's the oranges elephants are after.

At the newly opened National Elephant Center in Fellsmere, the pachyderms have discovered how to pluck the fruit from the trees with their trunks and pop it into their mouths.

Fresh Valencia oranges are not the only thing that makes the 200-acre center unique. It is also the only such site operated by the U.S. zoo community to house displaced elephants.

The center is open to two categories of the mammoth mammals: those sent for a limited stay by zoos that need to temporarily free up space for renovations or breeding; and elephants that need a permanent home when their previous institutional or private owners can no longer care for them.

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20130926/WIRE/130929728

[murielm99]

1. I love elephants.

And they are so endangered!

I hope lots of them get to live in Florida.

[Mnemosyne]

9. The babies are soo cute, they make me cry. nt

[CrispyQ]

12. They are the cutest!! You're gonna love this! Four minutes of awesome cuteness!

Navaan's outing.

http://www.wimp.com/elephantmud/

I can just see an elephant popping an orange in it's mouth!

[Aerows]

28. I can't help it

:SQUEE:!!!!

[Mojorabbit]

20. Looking at their eyes makes me cry. nt

[xchrom]

2. cool!

orange you glad they have a place?

[joeybee12]

6. Booooooooooo!

My ears hurt from that bad pun!

[Berlum]

3. Don't let the Republicon NRA nutbaggers know about this. They are shooting elephants.

For no good reason at all other than in a pathetic attept to try and compensate for their Republicon Chickenhawk souls. Poor sick bastards.

http://sync.democraticunderground.com/1014602810

[Skittles]

5. cowards will shoot anything that moves

f*** them all

[Dash87]

26. Especially the "canned hunt" assholes like Cheney and Nugent.

How is releasing something from a cage and shooting it a minute later "hunting?" I call that barbaric butchery.

They don't hunt for food. They love the feeling of killing a living thing.

[DJ13]

4. Where does an elephant live?

Any damn place he wants.

[steve2470]

7. is that a wire fence in the foreground ? hope it's not barbed wire nt

[Link Speed]

13. Probably electric

Elephants walk through barbed wire easier than you can walk through a spider's web.

We had an elephant on our ranch when I was a kid. She was as strong as a tractor.

[steve2470]

23. ok I'm glad they will get a very mild shock instead of getting torn to pieces, thank you nt

[LeftofObama]

8. !

[RosieS57]

10. Awesome!

How great to have a haven for them here. I am sure they will enjoy the surroundings!

Regards from Rosie

[surrealAmerican]

11. Sweet, but what happens when the oranges get overripe ...

... and start to ferment? Do they end up with a herd of drunken elephants?

[Aviation Pro]

14. Eventually these elephants...

....like pythons are going to become invasive species in Florida.

Mankind continues to fuck up nature's balance.

[EX500rider]

36. Right....

,,,,a whole herd is going to sneak under the fence and hide all the way to the everglades?

I want what you are smoking...lol

[Aviation Pro]

37. Google Pablo Escobar and hippopotamus...

...then come back and report on what you've learned.

[EX500rider]

39. Elephants in Fla are not Hippos in Medellín Cartel territory..

They are large slow breeding land animals who have zero chance of getting a foothold in Fla with out human approval.

[Aviation Pro]

40. We'll see...

....chaos theory has a habit of causing absolutes to fall apart.

[shenmue]

15. Awwww!

More elephants! Better the live ones than the GOP ones.

[MoonRiver]

16. How wonderful!

I wish we could transport all of Africa's elephants to places where they are safe from poachers.

[medeak]

25. there are some safe places in Africa...see post below n/t

[shireen]

17. how much cold can elephants tolerate?

They're from the tropics, and there are sometimes freezes in Florida.

And how are they shipped there?

I'm glad they have a place to live. Sounds like a nice place.

[spinbaby]

18. There's an elephant sactuary in Tennessee

Also, one in Pennsylvania, both colder places than Florida.

[lpbk2713]

27. Ringling Bros has been keeping elephants about 100 miles to the west ...

in Polk City since 1995 without any harm. Not only elephants but cats, monkeys and other species.

Link: http://www.elephant.se/location2.php?location_id=170

[mainer]

29. we have elephants here in Maine!

a rescue center called Hope Elephants (http://hopeelephants.org/). It was founded by a veterinarian and his brother who once worked in circuses while they were kids, and grew so attached to elephants that they wanted to start a retirement home where the elephants would get physical therapy and a happy old age.

Yes, they can take cold weather. Remember Hannibal and the alps?

[Historic NY]

19. Pretty neat they looked happy & peaceful.

[Beringia]

21. neat, here is a youtube on it

[Liberal_in_LA]

22. k&r

[medeak]

24. went on elephant ride in S. Africa

It was heartwarming to see how they are treated. One walk in am and then off and free to join the rinos who hang with them. They return from the hills at night to sleep next to their special caregivers devoted to them. Was told they hate US for the zoos. "We don't believe in that here. They should be free but we have an elephant walk to pay for their support" Babies are the cutest ever...so very affectionate. Thank you for article. edited to say....HUGE reserve in S. Africa. I hated it there as whites hate the blacks and blacks hate the whites so much. Lived on farm and blacks decapitated dogs while there as angry and whites were horrid as well. The only redeeming thing was elephants, and giraffes and zebras hanging together in back yard. It was frightening to be so isolated with such hate.

[red dog 1]

30. K&R

Why don't elephants like playing cards in the jungle?

Because of all the cheetahs.

[shireen]

31. LOL! That is sooo BAD!

[red dog 1]

32. How do elephants communicate over long distances?

Last edited Sat Sep 28, 2013, 02:14 PM - Edit history (1)

They use a trunk line.

(and you thought the OTHER one was bad)

[lpbk2713]

33. .

Tusk tusk tusk

[shireen]

38. stooopp!

[Sunlei]

34. "maybe 10 percent of the entire African elephant population was poached for ivory last year,"

Great thing some elephants have these beautiful preserves.

Sounds like the wild elephants will be poached out of existence soon.

[greytdemocrat]

35. Very cool! nt