Travels With Tarra
 Carol Buckley
 (Reviewed by The Editor - Rebecca Brown)
 2002 Tilbury House Publishers
  ISBN: 0884482413


Carol Buckley was a college student, studying exotic animal care, when she looked up from her homework one day to see a baby elephant walking past her house.

The local tire dealer had bought the tiny Asian elephant (back in the 1980s when that could still be done), named her Fluffie, because she was covered with her baby fluffy black hair, & used her as a promotion gimmick for his store. That day he was taking Fluffie for a stroll.

Carol jumped at the opportunity to help care for & train the baby elephant, even giving her the new, more dignified name of Tarra. Bob, the tire dealer was glad of Carol's help & enthusiasm, & soon the young woman & the baby elephant were inseparable. In the end, Carol bought Tarra & brought her home.

Tarra was bright, playful & careful & she loved attention She easily learned the tricks Carol taught her. To both their delight, they found that Tarra was a natural on roller skates!

For the next 20 years, the two appeared at circuses, theme parks & zoos all over the U.S. & Canada. Tarra also got into the movies, performing in Annie, as well as spots in advertisements.

As Tarra matured, their lifestyle changed from being on the road all the time, to longer vacations on their farm, in a national forest, where Tarra could live in a world more to her nature -- rivers & trees, dust & mud, & foraging for her food.

In their travels, Carol had met many lonely & abused elephants, & she had wondered where captive wild elephants went when they were too old to perform. She began dreaming of a place where elephants could just be elephants in a haven of their liking, where they could live out their long lives doing what comes naturally, rather than the tricks humans expected.

Carol Buckley & her friend, Scott Blais, found just such a wildland in Tennessee, & set about ensuring those 800 acres would become a refuge for Tarra & the other elephants who quickly came to stay, & so they formed an Elephant Sanctuary.

The Elephant Sanctuary was featured on the Emmy award-winning PBS Nature documentary Urban Elephants, & Carol Buckley & Scott Blais have been named "Heroes of the Planet" by Time Magazine for their work.

If you have ever been thrilled at the sight of an elephant up close. If you've ever wondered about life with elephants, Travels With Tarra will warm your heart, teach & enthrall you, & bring gladness that there are real people looking out for these magnificent kindred creatures.

A truly unique & interesting book!
(09/01/02)

Rebecca