It’s A Miracle! Baby Elephant Is Alive!

We have seen a modern day ‘miracle’ in Sydney in the last few weeks.

A couple of years ago now Taronga Zoo in Sydney imported some endangered Asian elephants from Thailand and began a breeding program.  One of the female elephants, Porntip, was successfully inseminated, and after 22 months gestation (and I thought 9 months was long!), Porntip finally went into labor on March 1.

It was a very long labor for poor Porntip, and after 6 days the experts at Taronga Zoo gave us the very sad news that the much anticipated baby elephant had in fact died in the womb.  The whole city, and likely the whole nation, was in mourning, and hundreds of people actually sent condolence cards to Taronga Zoo.

Meanwhile, Porntip is still in labor and must deliver the calf.  3 agonizing days later, we awoke to the remarkable news that Porntip had delivered a beautiful, healthy, and very much alive baby boy elephant.  He was nicknamed “Mr. Shuffles”  because his early attempts at walking looked more like a shuffle than a walk.

It’s a miracle!  The baby elephant is back from the dead!  All the news for days reported on this astounding miracle.  I’m all for miracles, but could it be simply that the zoo keepers and vet’s simply made a mistake?  I guess ‘miracles’ get more publicity.

After a contest, yesterday Mr Shuffles was renamed Pathi Harn which means ‘miracle’ in Thai.  Last night, I would have sworn blind that the newsreader on Channel 9 said his  name was “Party Hard”, but then again, I don’t speak Thai.  It makes more sense in the written form.

Here is a peek at Pathi Harn partying hard.  He is just adorable!