Exeter Zoowatch

Elephant


There�s a rumpus down at Exeter Zoo. It appears that one of the main crowd pullers, the Elephant has gone missing. On the line with me now is Hick Dead, head of biological hygiene and visual emenities at the elephant enclosure.
Hiya Mark!
What exactly does your job entail?
Basically, shoveling elephant shi-
So, do you think that the disappearance of the elephant was a theft?
No, more of a left.
Sorry?
We think that the elephant, Nellie, kind of decided to leave.
Why would she want to do that?
Well, my theory is that she�s unhappy with the economy drive at the zoo.
How do you mean?
Well, money�s a bit tight at the moment, so we�ve had to implement a few tough policies to save money.
Such as?
Combining the lion and wildebeest enclosures, and giving the dolphins a bath only every other day. You know, sensible money saving ideas.
Fair enough. And this bothered Nellie?
Oh yeah, Nellie�s big on ecology and stuff, she is.
What makes you think that she wasn�t actually stolen?
Well, Nellie�s bag was packed and her things were missing.
Her things?
Peanuts, bananas, magic feather- that kind of thing. Plus, we�ve heard reports of �trumpety trump� sounds- tell tale elephant leaving noises..
So, Nellie the elephant packed her trunk and said goodbye to the zoo, off she went with a trumpety trump, trump trump trump?
That�s what I�m saying, yes.
My real question would be, though, how could an elephant possibly escape?
Well Mark, I think you�re underestimating the elephant- it�s got one of the largest brains of all reptiles...
-mammals.
er... yeah. And of course, elephants are renound for their memory. What I suspect is that Nellie must have seen me typing in the multi digit code. Using her almost supernatural elephant powers of recall, she remembered the code and used it to escape.
Amazing.
Indeed. Think how astonishing it is to remember a double digit number, just like that.
Any final message to the listeners?
We�d like people to be on the look-out for an elephant, answering to the name �Nellie�. Only Nellie- we don�t want any time wasters. And we�d advise checking all the rooms in your house, in case she�s hiding.
Thank you very much, Hick Dead!
Cheers. You�re sure you haven�t seen it?  Big nose, great big pointy teeth, silly clown ears...