When I read this story and watched the video, it made me think of two old people who once knew each other and were reunited at the end of their lives.
Jenny and Shirley were both circus animals. Jenny, a calf, and Shirley was in her 20s. They lived together for one winter and separated for 22 years. But recently Shirley was brought to the same sanctuary in Tennessee where Jenny was kept.
Their story has been told in The Elephant Sanctuary.
Carol Buckley, Sanctuary Director, describes their reunion.
“Jenny came into the barn for the first time since Shirley’s arrival at around 7:00 p.m. There was an immediate urgency in Jenny’s behavior. She wanted to get close to Shirley who was divided by two stalls. Once Shirley was allowed into the adjacent stall the interaction between her and Jenny became quite intense. Jenny wanted to get into the stall with Shirley desperately.She became agitated, banging on the gate and trying to climb through and over.
After several minutes of touching and exploring each other, Shirley started to ROAR and I mean ROAR—Jenny joined in immediately. The interaction was dramatic, to say the least, with both elephants trying to climb in with each other and frantically touching each other through the bars. I have never experienced anything even close to this depth of emotion“.
The video of their reunion which you can see below is making the rounds on Facebook.
Jenny died in 2006 after being abused for decades as a circus elephant. She was born in 1969 and was captured when she was just four. The Elephant Sanctuary became her home in 1996.
