The zoo

A lot has happened since the last post, culminating in an 8 hour visit to Roger Williams Park Zoo. We had such amazing cooperation from the zoo staff that I was truly humbled. These folks took a lot of time out of their work day to answer questions, and show us around. And I could ask basically anything that I wanted to. I tried to include questions that I thought the general concerned public would want to know, both good and bad, about elephants in this zoo. I don't play hardball as a rule, but I did include queries on zoo studies about longevity, health care, etc. And was encouraged by the answers. As a matter of fact, my original premise about the evolution of our consciousness regarding exotic species really seems to be borne out in conversation.

Take the elephant's feet, for example. We've learned that elephants hear through their feet as well as their ears- though different types and frequencies of sound. One of the most distressing practices of zoo care in the past has been the fact that these animals have had to stay on concrete and their feet deteriorated and they've been unprotected from traffic sounds, etc. In RWPZ, though, this has all changed. The elephants are never on concrete and with the sand room, rubberized floors, and outside dirt, along with regular foot care, they're in pretty good shape.

These elephants aren't on chains, except in unpredictable situations where their safety and that of the keepers might be jeopardized. Procedures are done in the public area where people can watch to see that the animals aren't being abused. The name of the game, actually, is transparency, which was really heartening.

The staff had obviously done a lot of planning, because they had scheduled activities that would really help us understand the elephant's day- including bathing, mani/pedi, feeding, trunk wash for TB testing, and "enrichment" activities- ie, playtime.

The most interesting of these, to me, was painting. The pachyderms are learning to paint pictures on canvas (they can already do murals) with tempera paints (the kind kids use in case they eat it). Right now, it's mostly trunk painting, but they're learning to wield brushes, too, like their Thai brethren. "Why?" you may ask. It all has to do with keeping their minds occupied. These babes are smart, and can and do get bored. The more challenges, the more lively their minds, and the healthier they stay. So though this is a small piece of the whole picture, they seem to like it. As Jen, their keeper, pointed out, "You can tell they're really engaged by the way their ears go forward and they concentrate." Just like me!

So now, most of the primary shooting is done. It's time to review and transcribe tapes, work on the script and a more complete treatment, and figure out what needs to go where.

More as things progress.

Up to Chepachet- again

It was off to Chepachet again for a chat on camera with Edna Kent, Glocester's Town Historian.

I stopped at the Town cemetery on the way and located one of the shooter's graves with no problem at all. I wasn't at all surprised that Albert Eddy's impressive grave didn't mention a thing about his role in the historic elephant killing. I intend to go back to hunt the rest of the gang down, though Fenner Eddy (his brother and the main shooter) is, in fact, buried in upstate New York.

After our interview, all three of us headed out to follow the footsteps of the famous pachyderm. Even though the town has changed in a lot of ways from 1826, there were plenty of traces of it as it may have appeared back then. Heading down Tanner's Lane was a real time travel experience.

Condensing it...

It's really hard to think of condensing this project into a 2.5 minute trailer. What is the film's essence? How can I convey it in a flash?

If you were in the theater watching trailers before the latest Indie Blockbuster, what could I show you that would make you put this movie on your "definitely to do" list? How could I fan your flame so that you couldn't wait to tell all of your friends about it?

That's where I am right now. I have so much research under my belt, I've talked with and filmed so many people and have such amazing footage from various sources that it's time to seriously think about crafting a trailer for the film. It's always the toughest part for me to do...

I also continue to noodle with a title. "Elephants in Rhode Island" is fine, but other possibilities are "Hunting Elephants in Rhode Island", "The Saga of Elephants in Rhode Island", "Elephants in Rhode Island, a Love Story".

Feel free to make suggestions or comment...

Circus Surprise

OK. I have been avoiding any real confrontation with circus elephants. I, after all, am not a tough activist. I generally melt in the face of adversity. And I collapse in the face of animal misuse. But the Cole Bros. Circus came to town, and they had elephants.

Like a sleepwalker, I drove into the parking lot where the big top was begin set up and asked if they did, indeed, have elephants in their entourage. "Please, god, please," I prayed. "Don't let there be any elephants. Let me leave happy."

"Sure we do, honey," said the lady at the ticket booth.

"I'd love to take pictures of them," I said.

"Go around back and ask for Louie."

My feet were lead. What would I do if there were scars, blood, or fractures? But I headed back to Louie land and suddenly saw three huge black elephants standing in a pen, being fed hay by a hefty guy. They didn't have chains or bracelets on. Breathe. I tapped Louie on the shoulder.

"I know this sounds nuts, " I announced. "But I'm making a documentary about elephants in RI and would love to take some pictures. And..." (I gave my most winning smile.) "I've never even touched an elephant. Would it be possible to pet one of them?" Breathe.

"Sure," he said. Just give me a minute to get this hay under cover."

For the next half hour we talked about elephants- his elephants, circus elephants. It turns out that he's from an elephant handling family and they keep their charges on a 400 acre ranch (The Endangered Ark http://www.endangeredarkfoundation.com/index.html) for the six months a year they're not on the road. They aren't chained there. They roam, swim, and graze and socialize the whole time. As a matter of fact, when they're on the road, he said, the only time they're in a truck is when they are actually moving. Louie takes them swimming and grazing as often as he can. They had spent part of that very AM, as a matter of fact, browsing the hedges on the perimeter of the property where they were.

Could this be true? Could this be a humane circus animal trainer, or had he just learned the right words to assuage my fears? He did get some elephant facts wrong, but... "I wish they could stay on the ranch all year," he confided. "But it's expensive and they do have to earn a living." Breathe.

We made an appointment for Louie to talk on camera and I showed up promptly at 10AM on Sunday. Louie was at the chiropractor's. I talked with his assistant, who had joined the circus a month before. "I'm so happy," he said. "I love these animals the best of any in the circus. I want to do this for the rest of my life."

Louie joined us. We shot about 1/2 hour of him telling about his and the elephants' life. He even has a facebook page called Vanishing Giants. We talked about the fact that more and more places are banning animal circuses and what that means to him and his elephants.

While we were setting up two women arrived. One of them has terminal cancer and had come to help Louie feed and clean his charges. She had told him the night before that it was her one dream- to help care for an elephant before it was too late for her.

I may be a sap, and I may be hoping for too much. But I am also hoping that, in fact, this experience was for real. I have no reason to think it was a setup. Or maybe that where elephants are concerned, it is possible that good things do happen.

Raw Love

After a trip to Spain and several other diversions, I came back full force last week, with my faithful camera guy Ray, to shoot a couple of players in the "Fanny in Pawtucket" story.

Bill Mulholland was the head of the zoo during the Fanny imbroglio. Aaron Wishnevsky was one of Fanny's greatest fans and was active in getting her into the Black Beauty Ranch instead of a theme park/sanctuary in California.

It was obvious that Aaron and his late wife Pat were some of Fanny's greatest supporters. They visited her regularly during her 35 year stay at Slater Park and then a few times once she moved to Texas. Aaron was on her relocation committee. Marine World Africa USA, which was recommended by Loretta Swit was the front runner for her disposition. But no one had seen it. Aaron and Pat flew out to the site and were discouraged by what they saw. "It was like a zoo," he said. "Our Fanny would have to perform and be chained to a bunch of other elephants while she was there. It just wouldn't work." So he flew to TX and drove a couple of hours to Murchison after landing in Dallas for a site visit. What he saw lifted the clouds. "The animals could roam there. They had huge pens for the elephants (There was only one at that point.) and she'd be outside wandering around and swimming and grazing all the time." When he got back to Pawtucket, he convinced the council that there was no contest for her new home.

Bill Mulholland said he was frustrated due to lack of funds and commitment. He had repeatedly proposed plans to upgrade the zoo, but they always became stalled. It didn't help that the city's mayor was under indictment for corruption. "The City was at a standstill," he said. "No matter what we wanted to do, we were stymied. And things were at a crisis point."

While we were at the office, Cindy, the clerk, said that she remembered that when Fanny died in 2003, callers flooded the phones immediately. "They were all devastated," she said. So we shot her, too. And once again, came up with the same conclusions. Pawtucketers loved their elephant. When Aaron referred to her, he always used the term, "Our Sweetheart."

This emotion is raw. It's real. It's unbelievably powerful. People, when they speak of that time, don't focus on their hostility toward their opponents. They focus on their love for Fanny. It can change your life.

It began in Chepachet

So I presented my findings so far to the Glocester Historical Society in Chepachet last night. There were over a dozen people present and I was delighted at their interest in what I have dug up so far. The presentation, in spite of some early techno panic, went off really well.

The big hit of the evening, of course, was the world premiere of the digital version of the Baby Roger movie. For the first time anywhere in over a century, "A Visit with Baby Roger" ran for all of its 80 seconds. The applause was deafening. (OKOKOK. Maybe not deafening, but audible at least.) I thought it was appropriate that this cradle of elephant stories was also the spot where the movie came back to light...

One of the cool things about giving presentations is what you end up learning from the audience. One Civil War researcher/historian volunteered the fact that in 1862-63, there were supposedly several sitings of a wild elephant in the woods north of Woonsocket. I can hardly wait to get up north to see the info myself since the archives of the paper hasn't been digitized yet and I haven't run across any other references anywhere to this ghostly phenomenon. He (and I) suspects that this was just a case of mistaken identity, but, of course, it's a great adventure to track it down. After all, an elephant did run amuck in 1854 and cause a lot of damage just east of Pawtucket. Who's to say no elephant broke free from its menagerie and holed up in the woods for a winter? However, no bones have ever been found, no traces, as far as we know. But perhaps it was just passing through on its way to Florida...

On another front, I was shooting an interview with a woman who was at "Goodbye to Fanny Day" in 1993 up in Pawtucket. She was really articulate and passionate about Fanny. At the end of our time together, she said something that pierced me to the quick- "I'm glad someone is doing something for Fanny," she said. "So that people will remember her."

And in fact, that's what this is all about- remembering the animals that touched us so deeply. Here's to Fanny and friends...

Updates, updates

So much has happened to this project this month that I've lost track of time.

I located some actual footage of Providence's "Baby Roger"! It was taken in 1900 by a Long Island filmmaker who worked with DW Griffith early in his career. Anyway,after a daylong hunt, and some extremeley good luck in finding a friendly archivist at UCLA, I located the only existing copy of this film at the Library of Congress. They're making a digital copy for me as we speak. Though I haven't seen it, and don't expect much from the quality end of things, I'm totally jazzed about having some real moving footage of an actual player in this movie.

And speaking of moving footage- I spent time with Jan Mariani out at Roger Williams Park Zoo hanging out at the elephant yards. It felt great to see the girls (Alice, Kate and Ginny) cruising their yard in the sun, taking dust baths, etc. We made tentative plans for me to see some footage of elephants at home, and even to shoot them from a platform as they leave home for the day. And I get to talk to a keeper and a vet as well! Though this is a while off, after the school trips subside.

The really major development, though, was in finding a producer/coach to work with in making this film all it can be. Her name is Diane Hendrix in Sommerville, MA and her credentials are very impressive (see http://www.hendrixproductions.com/). We met yesterday morning to go through my treatment and as a result, the whole core and vision of this project has morphed. It has gone from an interesting, amusing and general story of the interaction of Rhode Islanders and elephants, to a passionate tale of our love for these animals in this state and how we've carried out that love.
Though I've been urged to change the title from "Hunting Elephants in Rhode Island", I'm still pretty attached to it. Perhaps a more accurate title would be "Hunting Elephants in Rhode Island; A Love Story". Because this, indeed, is what it is.

I had thought that my research would show the evolution of awareness of man to animal over the centuries. But, amazingly, what I found was that we almost immediately connected with the pachyderms. From the beginning, when Betty was shot in Chepachet, there was a huge outcry. And, on a wider scale, when "The Elephant", the first of his species, was brought to the US by Captain Crowninshield in 1797, there were essays on the animal's nobility and dignity.

What is it, I ask, about elephants and people? And what is it especially, I ask, about Rhode Islanders and their elephants?