this incident has brought back nightmares (literally) that i havent had in more than 10 years, it kind of reminds me that wild animals ARE dangerous no mattter how tame you might think they are. for 3 years in the early 90's i was a docent (volunteer educator) at the Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa Florida. on July 10th 1993 i was watching the lady that i thought was going to become Mrs Emmons, the elephant keeper working with Tilly, an asian elephant, the zoos' largest animal, when Tilly knocked Charlotte down and stomped her chest, killing her almost instantly, even then, he last thoughts were for the welfare of her charge. her last words were "dont hurt that elephant" then she died right there on the ground. i know that these critters are endangered and without these zoo or wildlife park animals we'd likely lose the different species that we're now keeping captive but this just shows how dangerous to both the keeper and the animal captivity programs can be. we were supposed to be going out that evening, our usual date night (saturday) to our favorite local resturant, The Stone Turtle and i was going to ask her to marry me that night. this incident at sea world is a terrible tragedy for this trainer and her family but also for the reputation of these whales. #$%*, i guess i rambled a bit, being awake since monday morning has scrambled my brain some but at least there are no nightmares when i'm awake.
