All posts in Elephants

Carol Buckley, longtime expert in the care of captive elephants

Carol Buckley—a longtime expert in the care of captive elephants, who co-founded The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, moving on to found Elephant Aid International, a nonprofit organization “that creates innovative approaches to the care and management of captive elephants”—seeks to address, 47 years into working with these animals, what exactly it is about elephants that stole her heart, and keep stealing it. Read more…

Barbara Trask Lovett, president of Save Nosey Now, advocate for captive elephants

Barbara Trask Lovett—president of Save Nosey Now, member of the Board of Directors of The Elephant Advocacy Project, and generally a veteran advocate for improving the lives of captive elephants—recounts part of her background and how earlier efforts for Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (at times, working closely with Paul Watson) gradually mutated into parallel concerns for elephants, particularly captive ones. Read more…

Caitlin O’Connell, author of “Wild Rituals: 10 Lessons Animals Can Teach Us about Connection, Community, and Ourselves”

Caitlin O’Connell—a noted scientist who’s spent much of her career studying elephants and their communication, and author of several books, most recently “Wild Rituals: 10 Lessons Animals Can Teach Us about Connection, Community, and Ourselves”—addresses some of her varied professional pursuits, including a NASA project that involved the Space Station, that had prompted me, tongue partly in cheek, to dub her “a Renaissance Woman.” Read more…

Ginny Sweet, co-founder of Corsos for Heroes

Ginny Sweet—co-founder (with Harry Toro) of Corsos for Heroes, an organization based in Lutz, Florida, that donates specially-trained service dogs, of the Cane Corso breed, to military veterans who are contending with one or more disabilities—describes some of the members of her military family. Read more…

Jeffrey Masson, author, most recently of “Lost Companions: Reflections on the Death of Pets.”

Jeffrey Masson—the New York Times bestselling author of books about animals and their emotions, including “When Elephants Weep” and “Dogs Never Lie About Love”—explains how being on the cusp of turning 80, and contemplating his own mortality, formed the chief impetus for writing his new book, “Lost Companions: Reflections on the Death of Pets.” Read more…