Dame Virginia McKenna remembers Pole Pole
On the 42nd anniversary of the death of Pole Pole the elephant, Born Free Co-Founder Dame Virginia McKenna DBE shares her poignant words of remembrance.
It is almost impossible to believe that our beloved little elephant, Pole Pole, died at London Zoo in 1983. Forty-two years ago.
It was her untimely death that inspired my late husband Bill, our eldest son, Will, and me to start a little organisation which we called Zoo Check, which is now Born Free.
We have had the great joy and privilege of seeing wild animals in their natural habitat when we made the films Born Free and An Elephant Called Slowly. It was heart-breaking to see this beautiful animal friend incarcerated in a tiny concrete enclosure, unable to hide from the laughter and ridicule of the public.
We took up her cause – I even found a reserve in Africa that would take her. But the zoo said no.
After months of communications, the authorities did agree to move her to Whipsnade, their country zoo. Tragically they kept her standing in her travelling crate for so long she collapsed. A week later, struggling with a damaged foot, they decided to put her down.
They said she had ‘lost the will to live’. Well, who can blame her.
I have never forgotten her. And never will.
Dame Virginia McKenna