Ten Year Old Bonds With Elephants

By Johnny Cat in Animals & Pets, Baby & Kids, Travel on Jan 26, 2010 at 9:31 pm

Winston in southern Oregon is where many tourists stop on their journeys north and south along Interstate 5; it’s where Wildlife Safari is. Recently the park acquired some help in the form of Wylie Malek, an autistic young boy people are calling a “natural elephant man.” It seems he’s bonded with the gentle giants, and has had breakthroughs of his own.

The young man’s communication skills have improved through the interactions, his father said, both with the adults at Wildlife Safari and with kids in his classes at Green Elementary. Sometimes it is hard to get the otherwise reserved boy to stop talking about the elephants, his father said. When he recites for the fifth time how much an elephant can eat, his family has to change the subject, Kris Malek joked.

Link | via The Obscure Store and Reading Room | Photo Credit: Robin Loznak

Tags: autism, feel, good, safari, story, Wildlife

Neat stuff from the NeatoShop:

dragon tryst
Jan 26th, 2010 at 10:49 pm
aw, that is so sweet. I have a really close relative that is autistic, he loves animals also. =]
Lostfiniel
Jan 26th, 2010 at 11:11 pm
It seems odd to me that they would allow a child, especially an autistic child, to work so closely with elephants. Elephants can be very dangerous to handle due mostly in part to their large size. Many zookeepers have been hurt and killed while caring for their wards and I can easily imagine something bad happening to the child.

It’s always wonderful to see an austic child coming into something that enriches their lives. But, I have to wonder if this crosses a line.
Johnny Cat
Jan 26th, 2010 at 11:18 pm
Nah, Lostfiniel. Elephants are quite intelligent and only act aggressive when they are being mistreated. Those stories are rampant on the tubes. As for incompetence, it seems little Wylie is not.
Lostfiniel
Jan 27th, 2010 at 12:17 am
I don’t mean to say that elephants are aggressive. I know they’re fairly docile animals and they bond fairly well with people. But, due to their massive size, they easily hurt their keepers without meaning to. The stories I’ve heard from zookeepers are less to do with rampages and more to do with an elephant leaning against his enclosure wall without realizing the keeper was there. Get too close while they are walking and I can
Johnny Cat
Jan 27th, 2010 at 1:16 am
Wow there’s a lot of fear in the world, eh? Instead of enjoying what is (as Necronomic Recovery said). What’s with all this projection of failure these days? Baffling.
pyrit
Jan 27th, 2010 at 8:42 am
Happy, not abused elephants, being such intelligent, social creatures, surely recognize that this boy is vulnerable. He is of no menace to them. They have befriended him and may even feel protective of him.
This is great.

I know 2 autistic boys that I see about once a week. Wow. I can relate to the father’s joking comment!
I dunno lol
Jan 27th, 2010 at 1:37 pm
how has no one related this to the simpson episode with stampy?
Mouserz
Jan 27th, 2010 at 4:39 pm
I think the kid needs to be more deformed before getting the elephant-man title.
Ally
May 20th, 2010 at 3:36 pm
Elephants never accidentally hurt somebody, they can feel a single piece of hay on their skin and they always know exactly where they’re feet are since if they hurt their feet they die. They may accidentally give you a flat tire if YOU’RE not paying attention to where you walk but that your fault, not the elephants. I think this child mostly helps clean the stalls and yards and is only in direct contact with the elephants when there are at the very least, two handlers present and the elephant is calm and relaxed.

Keep track of the comments with

Comment RSS

Lijit Search

The latest from NeatoBambino: