Animals I know and love

Great to see you on the local TV tonight Jim, working in front of those TV camera's just come natural to you. ;D

Rebecca is on ESPN

My dear friend Jimd played such a bit part in the early days on here and was such a help and support to me.

Sadly Jim's wife health has got worse recently and also Jim just lost all his interest in TUFC and has decided to spend more time caring and looking after his wife and left the forum for the time being but hopefully one day he will return.

Below is a story from todays Herald Express and I know Jim will be very sad and upset with the condition of Gay one of the elephants he looks after and loves to bits.

I had the pleasure of hand feeding her and I fear she may not be around for very much longer as she is suffering great pain at the moment.



From the HE



CONCERN is growing for the future of one of Paignton Zoo's most popular animals.

Elephant experts from around the world are helping zoo staff as they fight to save Gay the 40-year-old Asian jumbo, who has abscesses on her feet and suspected arthritis and has been on strong painkillers for months.

The zoo fears it is running out of choices as her condition worsens.

A zoo spokesman: "She is having the very best care, we are pulling out all the stops, no expense spared and no stone left unturned."

Four-tonne Gay, formerly a circus animal, came from Longleat Safari Park in 1977.

The zoo has called on vets and elephant experts from across the globe including zoos at Marwell, San Diego in California, Twycross, Chester, Whipsnade, Woburn Safari Park and Dublin Zoo, as well as vets from Nottingham and Bristol to discuss techniques for treating abscesses.

Neil Bemment, zoo curator of mammals, said: "Gay has taken a turn for the worse in recent weeks.

"We bought special boots to keep her feet cleaner during treatment but she has become less tolerant of these and has not been wearing them.

"She has been on painkillers for several months but there were signs that she was in greater discomfort.

"We have now put her on morphine for more effective pain relief but this is not a long-term solution.

"Welfare is always our first priority — with Gay it is a growing concern.

"We are considering our options. While the morphine is working well, she now has abscesses on all four feet and the suspected arthritis is incurable: you can only ease the symptoms."

"If we have exhausted every medical avenue then we will have to see where we go from here. We are running out of choices."

Zoo chief vet Ghislaine Sayers said treating animals is teamwork: "Vets have the clinical knowledge while animal staff have an unparalleled understanding built out of regular contact and long experience. It's always good to share problems. Other people may have had similar experiences or tried things you haven't considered."

My heartfelt condolences to Jim. My thoughts are with you.

Jim as expected is very upset and sad about the loss of Gay and yesterday was a very long and sad day for him as a postmortem also had to be carried out on Gay. She is now out of pain and while some will have views that there should not be such things as zoo's, I know Jim loved and cared for Gay for such a large part of his life and she enjoyed a far better life than she had when she was a circus animal.


Dave