Elephant memorial

The Elephant Whisperer



Lawrence Anthony, a legend in
South Africa and author of 3 books including the bestseller The Elephant Whisperer, bravely rescued wildlife and rehabilitated elephants all over the globe from human atrocities, including the courageous rescue of
Baghdad Zoo animals during
US invasion in 2003.
On March 7, 2012 Lawrence Anthony died. He is remembered and missed by his wife, 2 sons, 2 grandsons & numerous
elephants.
Two days after his passing, the wild elephants showed up at his home led by two large matriarchs. Separate wild
herds
arrived in droves to say goodbye to their beloved man-friend. A total of 20 elephants had patiently walked over 12 miles
to get to
his South
African house.



Witnessing this spectacle, humans were obviously in awe not only because of the supreme intelligence and precise timing that these elephants sensed about Lawrence 's passing, but also because of the profound memory and emotion the
beloved animals evoked in such an organized way:
Walking slowly - for days
- making
their way in a solemn one-by-one
queue (it's actually called a "parade") from their habitat


to his
house.





Lawrence's wife, Francoise, was especially touched, knowing that the elephants had not been to his house prior to that day for well over a year! But yet they knew where they were going.

The elephants obviously wanted to pay their deep respects, honoring their friend who'd saved their lives - so much respect that they stayed for 2 days and 2 nights.

Then one morning, they left, making their long journey back home.






Amazing.:peace:

That's awesome! I've heard (never witnessed myself) that elephants will "bury" their dead and mourn for them. They hold a vigil around the bodies before they cover them with leaves, dirt, etc. That's absolutely amazing and yet another reason I like most animals more than I do most people, lol! Thanks for sharing.

I heard this story briefly before but not in this detail.
Elephants are just crazy amazing.
I love stories like this that just make you remember that we are not alone in the possession of high intelligence. Sometimes i think people forget that animals can be like this. Feeling "real" emotions.

Great story, nature your crazy!

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wow! That's amazing!! Thank you for sharing!

I find this very, very unlikely. The fact that the story gets his death date wrong (March 2nd, not March 7th) is one red flag. If there is any truth to it, it's been hyped up a lot.

Very sad yet very amazing...

It was apparently his son who made the claim about the elephants. There's really no way to verify it, one can trust the son's account, or not. I'm not sure that anyone else has corroborated or denied the story. If dates were gotten wrong, well, the story has been rewritten and been making the rounds for some time now.

I don't know much about it either, I got it in an email and thought it was neat:confuzd: