I have been contacted by e-mail and phone on several occasions regarding elephants being alone.

For some reason the publicity that has been spread that all elephants should be in the company of others in my opinion is erroneous from the experiences I have had over the years with many elephants.

Every elephant like humans are individuals in there own rights.  Every one has an individual personality, likes and dislikes, temperament, etc.  Some are dowdy and sulk while others have a great sense of humor.  In fact at one time I had one that could kill you with his joking around.  Some are just mean and some have a behavioral problem ranging from mild to severe.  This includes aggression not only to humans, other species but also their own kind.                       

At one time I had a small herd of elephants that I had imported and raised from infant bottle babies together.  Two of the three would stay together from the day I put them together.  The third wanted no part of either of them.  She had no behavioral problems in fact she was the friendliest and best natured of the three but wanted nothing to do with the other two.  When they were totally without restraint, which was most of the day, regardless if they were in the barn or outside in a hundred acres she was always alone.  This was her choice.

Then there are some elephants that not only want nothing to do with other elephants but also other species.  I know of one elephant in particular that not only killed goats, a llama and crippled another elephant and she got along with people with no problems.  As far as I know at this time she is still on the road as a single elephant and doing very well.

The captive elephant is not a wild animal.  I am sure even in the wild herds there is always a loner, or a trouble maker and I am sure there is some sort of control of this type of animal among the herd whether it be the herd itself or the matriarch.  As I have not had the pleasure of observing the wild herd I have wondered how a matriarch became one.  Is it brute force, intelligence or a combination of both?

When I first started with elephants I had a man that tried to train and teach me to train my elephant.  He turned out to be an armature and she and I learned more of what not to do then what we should do.  I quickly learned to deal with professionals.  This did not mean that to train an animal you have to be brutal or sadistic.  It does mean that there has to be a respect and discipline between both animal and trainer and this creates a bond between them.

In the wild the elephants and other wild animals have one major thought.  Through out their life and that is to find food and water to exist.  In captivity that problem is solved but the species being as intelligent and clever as they are, their minds have to be kept busy.  I know the stupid arguments that are made by some activists how cruel it is to make the animal work and they back it up with old and in some cases ancient pictures of abuse.  Regardless what profession you name there is always a bad apple.  But it is not the normal of the profession as they would like you to believe. It seems that perception is more important than truth.  I remember the old saying, “ if you are not good at what you do or know little of it, just make a lot of noise”.  That is my opinion of these self -appointed animals activists.

Betty is one of those elephants that does not like any company from other animals including elephants.  She is not what would be called “herd bound”.  She is a loner and prefers to keep it that way.  She is also aggressive to other animals including elephants.  She showed us her disposition when she first arrived.