Goodbye Amanzi

When I took this photograph in January, 2016 at the San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary in Irvine, California, it was a breezy day.  Featherweight blooms from shrubs lining a nearby pond were being tossed by the wind and began floating in the air like soap bubbles.  It looked so dreamy.  Today my heart is very heavy after learning of the loss of  a baby elephant named Amanzi who had been rescued after falling into a drain pipe.  The drain was on a dirt ground  at a mining company in South Africa.  The drain pipe was just large enough for him to fall into and it was full of water.  Two men rescued him and tried to reintroduce him to an elephant herd nearby but it was not successful.  Two days after the incident Amanzi was taken to Hoedspruit Endangered Species Center in South Africa where they rehabilitate and care for rescued baby rhinos, and other wildlife. Amanzi fell into the drain on February 16, 2016.  Today, March 2, 2016, Amanzi died.  I almost could not believe it.  He had arrived at Hoedspruit center very traumatized and each time he seemed to have improved, he'd take a turn for the worse.  It went on like this for several weeks.  He never attained the strength he needed.  I suppose that because I believed so very badly that he'd pull through, hearing the news that he died devastated me.  He was an adorable baby. I hope there is a heaven for animals and that Amanzi drifted straight off to it just as these featherweight blossoms were drifting in the breeze, as if they had a purpose, as if they had somewhere they had to be.  Bless all the caretakers and doctors at Hoedspruit Endangered Species Center in South Africa.