Me and the Wildlife

The Elephant

It was a chilly and grey day in late September so I decided to wear my leather coat.  I had that coat for many years, and it was getting a bit worn around the edges, but it still did a good job of protecting me from the wind and rain should the clouds bestow that gift on me.  We were visiting Calgary, so we decided that the best thing to do that day was to check out the Calgary Zoo.  Being a week day in late September, most children were in school and the weather, being what it was, did not entice many people to go to the zoo.  We had the place pretty much to ourselves.  This was a few years ago, probably the early 1970s, so I don't remember a lot of details about the visit, except for the elephant.
  He (and it could have been a she, as I am not an expert on elephants, nor was I close enough to tell) was standing near the building that served as his shelter.  I was separated from him by a wire line fence, and a railing a few feet further out.  I wanted to take a picture of him, but I didn't want the photo to be obscured by the wire link fence.  I tried to get his attention and to get him to come over by yelling and waving my arms.  I felt that I could get away with looking like a raving lunatic as there were no other people around.  After some minutes he looked at me, then turned and walked towards me.  Great!  This is working!  He peered at me over the chain link fence, then raised his trunk.  Wow!  This picture is going to be great!  However, before I could squeeze the shutter he blew what was in his trunk at me.  If he had filled it with water, I would have gotten very wet.  That would have been better than all the mucus that was spattered over my leather coat.  If he had fingers he would have given me the finger.  This message was far more effective and understandable.  Okay. Time to go back to the hotel and clean up.