The first thing we saw when we arrived were giant sunflowers in the yard

The facility has a small education center that they hope to expand. Thousands of school kids have already visited the elephants.

The girls measured themselves on the “elephant ruler”

The elephant family

Dr. Jim starts off by telling us about how he knew Rosie and Opal when he was working in the circus.

This is how elephants normally drink – she puts some water in her trunk, then delivers it to her mouth.

Rosie’s trunk is partially paralyzed, so she does better when given water directly to her mouth. Before she came here, she would try to throw the water in her mouth, and was dehydrated as a result.

Dr. Jim uses a ball on a stick to exercise the elephants to help them improve their mobility – a type of physical therapy.

Rosie is tossing a glucosamine pellet into her mouth – it helps with their arthritis.  She is good at tossing food into her mouth.

Dr. Jim gets Opal to step into a bucket of medicine for her foot.

Opal keeps her foot soaking as long as Dr. Jim gives her treats – Purina Elephant Pellets.

Here he is giving her a pellet – she’s taking it into her trunk with her “finger” and will drop it in her mouth.

A close up of the end of Opal’s trunk

Dr. Jim puts some hay out and the elephants hurry over to the back of their pen.

Rosie sees something she wants, and ambles back to the fence. Notice how she is swinging her leg out. She has shoulder damage, probably from age and having been bumped by other elephants.

Rosie finds her “toy” – it’s like a giant Kong Toy, filled with carrots and apples. She shakes it to get the goodies out. This is an exercise for her trunk. She has what’s called “Floppy Trunk Syndrome,” a result of the partial paralysis.

This photo shows we were close to the elephants, but separated by a couple of fences.

The girls pose, once the talk is over.

We went into their barn – the floor is made of concrete with radiant heat, covered with 8 inches of sand, kept at 68 degrees in the winter.

Fred, a volunteer, explains about the barn and also talks about elephant facts. He’s showing a molar – elephants replace them 6 times over their life.