Arnie got it. “Yeah, yeah. I see what you mean.”
Linda and I smiled. I said, “We’d hate to see Neal come down on you like a ton of bricks.” Linda squeezed his left arm, I patted his right arm. We closed the door behind us as we left.
***
On August 12, Mr. Crandall announced that the zoo had acquired “significant new acreage for an expanded, state-of-the-art elephant exhibit.” By that he meant ten acres behind the existing zoo. This was after the city council held a week of public hearings. Bill “Thor” Thorson testified persuasively about the shortcomings of the old exhibit. Dale Baker spoke vehemently against zoos, comparing them to Nazi prison camps and Gitmo. This raised hackles and pretty much ruined his case for sending the elephants to a sanctuary. It also nearly got him punched out by a fan of Damrey’s who wanted her to stay in Vancouver. Linda said that after the hearing, she saw Thor ripping Dale a new one, emphasizing something about “effective strategies.”
On August 13, eight months and twenty-five days after Rick died, Robert Oakley Douglas was born. The birth was dramatic, terrifying, painful, and astonishing. In short, normal. My mother and Marcie served as birth coaches. Linda was out of town. Neal had sent her to a feline conference in the other Washington—the D.C. one. She was not yet a senior keeper, although Arnie had been reassigned as a regular keeper at his own request. Linda was in line for the job once the zoo’s staffing settled down.
Robby emerged weighing eight pounds, three ounces, looking around in amazement. Denny examined his tiny palm and said he had a terrific life line.
Afterword
Biologists estimate that half of all wild mammal species are declining in the wild largely due to habitat destruction and overharvesting by our own species. For more information about the wild animals and issues mentioned in Did Not Survive and an opportunity to contribute to conservation, see the organizations listed below. Please do what you can to help.
• TRAFFIC, a wildlife-trade monitoring network with a fascinating website: http://www.traffic.org/
• International Elephant Foundation: http://www.elephantconservation.org/
• Association of Zoos and Aquariums Elephant TAG (Taxon Advisory Group/Species Survival Plan): http://www.elephanttag.org
• Clouded Leopard Project: http://cloudedleopard.org/
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Did Not Survive Page 27