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SuperHeroine: Carol Buckley
By Trish Milburn

If you watch the news, you're bombarded with stories of greed and selfishness on a daily basis. That's why it is so heart-warming to hear stories of selflessness, kindness and dedication to important causes. And it's especially remarkable when you meet someone who has dedicated his or her life to a cause with such passion and love that it takes your breath away.

That was my impression of Carol Buckley, co-founder of The Elephant Sanctuary in rural Hohenwald, Tennessee. It takes only seconds to realize how much boundless love she has for the animals in her care. She smiles at their child-like antics, hugs them when she passes them in the pasture, and works tirelessly to give them a life better than the one they've known during their years of captivity in zoos or circuses.

The Elephant Sanctuary is not open to the public, but I was fortunate to get to visit this peaceful, serene slice of the countryside while doing a story for the magazine for which I work. Whether watching the elephants in the pasture via the Ele-cams, walking through that pasture with them or talking with Buckley about the dreadful conditions in which some of them lived before coming to the sanctuary, it's obvious that these creatures are a part of her soul. Perhaps that is her purpose in this life - to be their champion.

Buckley's love affair with elephants began with Tarra, the elephant with whom she performed for a number of years. When Buckley and sanctuary co-founder Scott Blais created the sanctuary, which has a similar habitat to the elephants' native lands, Tarra became its first resident.

Carol caresses Tarra, the elephant she's cared for since Tarra was a baby.

As word spread, more old, sick and needy elephants were sent to the sanctuary. Unfortunately, there is a great need for this type of place. Even the elephants that are kept by loving and caring owners often are in desperate need of the fields, forest and creeks the sanctuary offers. Elephants are herd animals that tend to roam 30-50 miles in a day. In captivity, they often have to stand still for long periods of time on either concrete or hard-packed earth, sometimes chained. This leads to foot rot, the leading cause of death among captive elephants.

Since the sanctuary opened in 1995, it has been home to 14 elephants - 11 Asians and three African. Two of that number have unfortunately died. Barbara had chronic wasting disease, and Tina - who I stood next to as she was treated for her serious foot deterioration - died last year. One only has to read the description of Tina's last days on the sanctuary's Web site to realize how much Carol, Scott and the entire staff care about these animals - and how much the elephants care about each other.

I felt it that day I visited, but I realize more and more with each bit I read about the sanctuary and the remarkable people who work there that it's a magical place. For elephants that were ripped from their families as babies and then kept in captivity for years, even decades, it's like heaven.

"They all have horrific histories and come with a lot of emotional baggage," Buckley said at the time I interviewed her for the magazine article. "They're initially guarded when they arrive here, but it's only a matter of hours before they really change. The elephants communicate, and each time the transition time is shorter."

Even elephants that have been aggressive or deemed problem animals in their former environments seem to know things are different when they arrive at the sanctuary. Buckley believes the elephants already living there tell the newcomers upon their arrival, "It's okay. You're going to love it here."

Carol Buckley and Scott Blais, co-founders of The Elephant Sanctuary, visit with Bunny and Shirley as they explore part of the sanctuary's forested acreage.

Considering all the feeding, health care, office duties, fund raising, teleconferencing with schools, and the extensive diary entries and photos on the sanctuary's Web site, I've wondered if Carol ever sleeps. But then, maybe guardian angels don't need sleep.

No matter how much Buckley and the rest of the sanctuary staffers and volunteers have done to help elephants find a more natural, peaceful life, there's always more to do, more elephants to save. The sanctuary has grown from slightly more than 100 acres to more than 2,700. More facilities such as specialized barns have been built, and two distinct habitats have been created to keep the Asian (Tarra, Jenny, Shirley, Bunny, Sissy, Winkie, Delhi, Lota and Misty) and African elephants (Tange, Zula and Flora) apart. The staff members are always in various stages of negotiation to bring other elephants to the sanctuary, including ones that may never recover from their ailments but deserve to live out their final years roaming with other elephants as they would had they never been taken into captivity.

The sanctuary survives through the kindness of individual and group donations. It receives no government funding. It's not cheap to take care of an elephant, let alone 12 and counting. But, to me, you can't put a price tag on how happy the elephants look as they nuzzle each other with their trunks and play with their toys such as tetherballs and spare tires. And they have Carol Buckley and her dedicated staff and volunteers to thank for their happiness and tender loving care.

To find out more about The Elephant Sanctuary, including live shots of the elephants via the Ele-cams, go to www.elephants.com. Be warned, the site is addictive and you might look up from your computer screen to see that an hour or two has gone by. But they're hours well spent.

Photos courtesy of Robin Conover and The Tennessee Magazine.