Hey elephant! which roadside assistance are you from?

somalilandpress.com
April 30, 2010
Hargeisa

An elephant put its size to good use when it helped a zoo keeper start his car by giving it a shove.

Lawrence Bates was all set to call for assistance when his jeep at West Midland Safari Park broke down, until Five the elephant decided to give him a helping hand.

The 18-year-old African Elephant got behind and pushed the car out of trouble and out of the enclosure.

She even cleaned the car in the process.

Five reached into a bucket of water with her trunk, sprayed the vehicle with water to remove any dust, then gathered up a sponge with her trunk and cleaned the windows and paintwork with the style of a true professional.

Director of Wildlife, Bob Lawrence, said: “The jeep broke down one morning and the lads jumped out to have a look at it, popped the bonnet and had a look at the oil.

“We still couldn’t get it to start so gave it a push start, eventually got it going – at this time though its covered with dirty hand marks so Five gave it a quick wash and a hose down.

“But the jeep broke down again and to our astonishment Five came over and decided to give us a hand.

“She lifted the bonnet up, got the dipstick, and gave it to Lawrence. When we still couldn’t get it to start, she went round the back and gave us a push.

“I’ve never seen anything like this in my life – it was absolutely incredible.

“Five and her Keeper are a real team.

“It is said that an Elephant never forgets, thankfully we don’t experience many vehicle breakdowns, but next time Five will know exactly what to do”.

West Midland Safari Park have three African Elephants that have often engaged in a variety of unusual pursuits, such as creating works of art and playing football.

Photo: Five the Elephant gives the jeep a shove/NEWSTEAM
Source: Telegraph (UK), 30 April 2010

Article & photos at: http://somalilandpress.com/hey-elephant-which-roadside-assistance-are-you-from-14033