Bill Nemitz: Comedian adds wrinkle to elephant's retirement
Jim Lauriter, shown with the ailing Rosie, said of his plan to bring her to Maine: "She's going to receive treatments that she couldn't receive down there (in Oklahoma) or really anyplace else in the world."Posted: August 28
As if Maine didn't have enough headaches, now we've got Lily Tomlin threatening us over an elephant.The Hollywood actress and comedian, who also happens to be a longtime advocate for elephants in captivity, wrote Gov. Paul LePage last week to say she was "stunned" that veterinarian Jim Laurita is moving ahead with plans to bring an aging, ailing elephant named Rosie to his midcoast hometown of Hope.
More on Laurita's plans in a minute. First, a sneak peek at what the good doctor is up against.
"Should approval be given to bring Rosie to Maine," warned Tomlin in her letter to LePage, "it is certain to draw the ire of elephant lovers around the world and unwanted controversy to your wonderful state."
LePage, bless him, has so far taken a pass on responding directly to this one. (Although the mere mention of our Republican governor and an elephant in the same brouhaha is enough to make our headline writers swoon.)
But Laurita, who worked with Rosie as an elephant handler for the Carson and Barnes Circus more than 30 years ago, said last week he's forging ahead with his plans to make Maine the 42-year-old pachyderm's new home.
It all started a few months ago when Laurita, who's had a veterinary practice in Camden since he came here with a degree from Cornell University in 1990, decided to go beyond the farm animals and small pets and do something big. Really big.
In addition to his work with the circus back in his college days (he and his brother, Tom, first joined Carson and Barnes as jugglers), Laurita, now 53, later worked with elephants at the Bronx Zoo and actually managed his own herd at the nonprofit Wildlife Safari animal park in Oregon. He also studied elephants in India during his time at Cornell.
"They're very, very intelligent animals," Laurita said. "That's what makes them so fascinating."
Laurita long has kept tabs on Rosie, who is now retired from the circus and living with a 27-elephant herd at Carson and Barnes' winter facility in Oklahoma.read more at:http://www.pressherald.com/news/Comedian-adds-wrinkle-to-elephants-retirement_2011-08-28.html
More on Laurita's plans in a minute. First, a sneak peek at what the good doctor is up against.
"Should approval be given to bring Rosie to Maine," warned Tomlin in her letter to LePage, "it is certain to draw the ire of elephant lovers around the world and unwanted controversy to your wonderful state."
LePage, bless him, has so far taken a pass on responding directly to this one. (Although the mere mention of our Republican governor and an elephant in the same brouhaha is enough to make our headline writers swoon.)
But Laurita, who worked with Rosie as an elephant handler for the Carson and Barnes Circus more than 30 years ago, said last week he's forging ahead with his plans to make Maine the 42-year-old pachyderm's new home.
It all started a few months ago when Laurita, who's had a veterinary practice in Camden since he came here with a degree from Cornell University in 1990, decided to go beyond the farm animals and small pets and do something big. Really big.
In addition to his work with the circus back in his college days (he and his brother, Tom, first joined Carson and Barnes as jugglers), Laurita, now 53, later worked with elephants at the Bronx Zoo and actually managed his own herd at the nonprofit Wildlife Safari animal park in Oregon. He also studied elephants in India during his time at Cornell.
"They're very, very intelligent animals," Laurita said. "That's what makes them so fascinating."
Laurita long has kept tabs on Rosie, who is now retired from the circus and living with a 27-elephant herd at Carson and Barnes' winter facility in Oklahoma.read more at:http://www.pressherald.com/news/Comedian-adds-wrinkle-to-elephants-retirement_2011-08-28.html
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