Me and Maggie — A True Love Story
When I first moved to Anchorage, Alaska, I was hired on at The Alaska Zoo as a gardener. Anyone who knows me would laugh at that. I know nothing about plants, flowers, or anything related to gardening! I am challenged just keeping a houseplant alive. Still, I was hired and I showed up at the greenhouse on my first day, ready to, I don’t know, water something!
My supervisor, a young man named Aaron, showed me around, explained how things worked, and also became a good friend. I loved this gig! I had access to pretty much every area of the zoo and was able to spend time with the animals by getting to know their keepers. Everyone who worked there was lovely and genuinely cared for the well-being of every animal on the grounds.
Al, one of the tigers, was my favorite. He and I had some past-life stuff going on. We got to spend some quality time together working all that out. And Jake, the giant brown grizzly bear enjoyed when we would trim the grass and care for the flowers back behind his enclosure. There were many personalities living at that very animal-friendly zoo.
Maggie, the elephant, however, was a complicated being.
As a very young calf, she experienced the trauma of witnessing her mother and herd being culled. Slaughtered, before her eyes. She was then transported to America and put into un-healthy environments where she was abused and neglected. One of the abuses she suffered was having rocks thrown at her. She learned not to trust humans.
By the time I arrived at The Alaska Zoo, Maggie had been there quite a long while. She was known for being, as they called it, “difficult.” She would pin people up against fences, not cooperate with instructions, and — as she had learned from her previous encounters with humans — she threw rocks at people.
When Aaron and I would go down to mow the grass and weed whack the area outside her enclosure, I would always check in with her, saying, “Hey, Maggie. It’s Rachel and Aaron. It’s going to get a little loud down here, ok? Sorry about that.” I talked to Maggie a lot, whenever I wandered by her area.
Anyway, she was fine with me. Aaron was another story! He would feel the wind from the rocks whizzing right by his ears as he did his job. She never hit him, although it was clear that she could have if she really wanted to!
One day, I was told that the crew needed to weigh Maggie, as part of her health check. They had noticed that she seemed to respond positively to me, so I was asked to be part of the team to help get her onto the scale. This was a real honor for me and I took it very seriously. I reassured Maggie that I also hated being weighed and that I promised not to look at the scale when she stepped on it. I believe that I helped her through that moment.
When the day came that I was leaving the zoo, I went down to her enclosure to say good-bye. Maggie was on the far side of her yard when I got to the fence. I called out and said, “Hey, Maggie. I’ve got something I have to tell you.” She looked at me and came trotting over to where I was standing. I explained that I had found another job and was leaving the zoo. She shook her head and looked down at the ground.
I promised that I would come visit and that I would never forget our summer of getting to know one another. She reached her trunk down to the ground.
I reminded her of how much I loved her. And then I saw that she was picking up a rock with her trunk.
Taking a couple of steps back, I said, “No, Maggie. Really? Please don’t throw a rock at me. I’m sorry I’m leaving. I have to, though.”
And then, slowly, with the rock suctioned onto the end of her trunk, she stretched her trunk through the fencing and held it — and the rock — out in mid-air. I put out my hand and she, gently, placed the rock into my palm.
The tears began to flow. I thanked her, from my heart, for this gift of love. And then she straightened out her trunk so that I could blow into the end of it. I had learned that this was something she loved. It was at this moment that one of my co-workers took the photo attached to this story.
She let me stroke her trunk and I kissed it as well. After some tearful and tender moments, we said good-bye. She turned and walked back across her yard.
When I experience moments of loneliness or feeling un-seen or un-loved, I look at this photograph and rekindle this memory. Cherishing the moment of Real True Love, shared between me and Maggie the Elephant.
(Maggie was moved from the Alaska Zoo in 2007 and has been living happily with other rescued elephants in an animal sanctuary in California).
