11:29 PM Mon, Mar 23, 2009 | Permalink
By Sheila Lennon  Email this author | Email this entry |
The Belfast Zoo captions this photo, "Women looking after elephants during World War II."
They had me at the headline, but the story's not bad, if true.
BBC: Who gave a home to elephant Sheila?
The search is on for the kind guardian who adopted a baby elephant and brought her up in her back garden in north Belfast during World War II.
The Belfast Zoo:
Search for the 'elephant angel'
The zoo has many unusual stories from its 75 year history but perhaps this could be the most curious.
To mark our birthday, we are looking for our 'elephant angel', a mystery woman who looked after a baby elephant during World War II.
In 1941, many of the animals in the zoo were killed because of public safety fears during the Belfast Blitz.
The Ministry of Public Security ordered that 33 zoo animals be killed in case they escaped from the zoo during the air raids.
They included a hyena, six wolves, a puma, a tiger, a black bear, two polar bears and a lynx.
But Sheila, a baby elephant, was protected and taken to the home of the unknown 'elephant angel' who looked after Sheila in her back garden.
It is believed she was local to North Belfast but her identity remains a mystery.
Zoo manager Mark Challis says: "The care provided by our mystery lady is unique to zoo history and we would like to make contact with her family and properly document this gap in our past." If you have any information that might help us find the family of this remarkable lady, call 028 9077 6277 or email history@belfastzoo.co.uk
The zoo doesn't mention this, but Sheila could still be alive somewhere. Elephants generally live 50 or 60 years, some up to 70 or 80.
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