Wanky the Elephant

So it was with great dismay that we all learned this morning of the death of Wanky the elephant (an interesting name for an elephant, but we don’t want to go there do we?). I hadn’t really been aware of the elephant controversy at the Chicago Zoo where it appears that 3 elephants have died in quick succession. Gillian Anderson (of X-Files fame) and PETA have been involved and there's even an Elephant Free Zoo association to take up the cause. Although it is all very sad and I am no fan of zoos, I don’t think I will lose sleep over the matter. But what I did find interesting was the accompanying announcement that grief counseling was being made available to zoo staff. Now is that a sign of a highly evolved society or what - grief counseling for zoo workers. I wonder if they get it for any animal or if its only for the large mammals – pity those guys in the penguin exhibit, I bet they die like flies and nobody gives their keepers counseling.

Meanwhile today 16 more people were killed by a car bomb in Iraq – I doubt very much if any of the survivors will get grief counseling.