[dogs rule]

Wonderful, but sad.



The Animal Odd Couple - YouTube
An extraordinary and unusual friendship that developed at the Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald Tennessee over the last decade, has come to a heart-wrenching end.


At the sanctuary, two elephants usually tend to stick together. Pairs often develop a companionship like two best friends. They are always around each other, roam together and eat together.

There was a little twist in the tale for the Asian elephant, Tarra. Her best friend was a rescue dog called Bella. Rescue dogs often take refuge in the sanctuary but stay aloof from the elephants. Bella was the only dog who made an effort to establish a friendship with Tarra and they both formed a beautiful bond.

A couple of years ago, Bella injured her back and couldn't walk or wag her tail. Tarra camped outside the shed where Bella was being treated for three weeks. When the sanctuary caretakers carried out Bella to see Tarra, the dog wagged her tail for the first time in three weeks.
The best friends became the stars of the sanctuary and were widely covered by media and even had a book written about them.

Sadly, this morning, Bella passed away. The sanctuary released a statement saying, "We noticed Bella was not with Tarra at breakfast on Tuesday and later that morning she still had not appeared. Tarra and Bella have always spent short periods apart as one goes off exploring briefly on their own, but this longer absence worried us deeply and a search of the property was started which continued into the next day."

The search came to a tragic end when they found Bella's body close to the barn that had been Tarra's home for a long time. "During the time of the search our usually social Tarra chose to remain alone," added the sanctuary representatives.

The sanctuary vet and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency concluded that the probable cause of the dog's death was an attack by animals, most likely coyotes.

Sanctuary co-founder, Carol Buckley, reflected on the life and beautiful relationship of the two unusual friends by saying, "Bella was a special girl, an independent and sweet soul, and a loyal and sincere friend to Tarra."

[Lunareclipse]

That is devotion. I can't imagine what their kids are going to look like.

[bigpawsup]

Sad but sweet. Actually, I'm hoping the elephant is ok. From what I've read and heard they don't handle loss well.

[dogs rule]

Your right there, bigpawsup.
Elephants have been known to grieve, have "funerals" over their loved ones.
I hope she will be ok, after all she stayed by the fence for 3 weeks, while Bella was being cared for.
I'm sure they will be looking out for Tarra.

[Deafdogsrule]

On another story I read about this, they went on to say that they left Bella for Tarra to greive over, but she wouldn't come near, and that they suspect that Tarra actually found Bella and brought her home, as there was no sign of a struggle where the dog was found, and Tarra had a little dried blood on her trunk... so very sad, I hope she finds another (hopefully more long-lived) companion, and get's over Bella's death soon

[dogs rule]

Thats probably is what happened, Tarra found Bella and brought her back to the barn that had been Tarras home.
Besides dogs, elephants are yet another remarkable animal.