Don't Know Why

I don't know why I find this video of elephants marching down New York's 34th street so moving, but I do. I've watched it 3 or 4 times now, and it still brings tears to my eyes. Can you imagine how magical it would be to see real live elephants marching down the street in the middle of the night, trunk to tail? In New York? (During this strange and sappy time of my life, when I love so many things, I really love elephants. Oh yeah, and those beautiful black horses toward the end with the arched necks. And monkeys. And cats. Fish, too. And Grandpas with toddlers. And all my little girlie friends.)

Apparently when the Ringling Brothers circus come to New York this summer, the closest the trains can get is Queens, so the elephants and the horses make the rest of the trip on foot, through the Manhattan tunnel and down 34th street. Here's another view, and another.

I heard the story as one of the top stories of 2007 on NPR. During the report, you could hear the sounds of the crowd in the background, and there was a lot of happy, supportive shouting. One guy just kept yelling, "Elephants! Yeah! Elephants! Wooooooo!" The reporter asked the guy why he kept yelling, to which the guy responded something like, "It's ELEPHANTS! Ain't nobody don't like ELEPHANTS, sir."

*I guess they do this every year, and for whatever reason, PETA protests it. I respect the thought behind PETA, but I thought it was pretty lame of them to follow the parade along the sidewalk with signs and say things to people like, "Don't pretend you care about the animals, ma'am." and "Shame on you." As if thinking elephants are cool is something to be ashamed of. I guess they see this as a cruel and unnecessary publicity stunt, but it's a cheap stunt for them as well. Where are they when the everyday animals are truly abused. Where are they for the dogs and the cats and the laboratory rats? Not walking down 34th Street.

I bet the elephants actually like it. How many times do they get to go for a nice walk and check out the scenery? Next time I see a PETA member, they'd better be wearing hemp shoes, that's all I can say.