Priceless Memories - Bob Barker [88]
• • •
And the animal rights tsunami rolls on to elephants—more specifically to the elephant named Maggie. You may have heard her name—Maggie’s plight received worldwide attention.
While I was still doing Price, I received a couple of letters from Anchorage, Alaska, describing the conditions under which Maggie was living. Because of the inclement weather, Maggie had to be kept indoors seven months of the year, and an elephant cannot be healthy, let alone happy, living indoors seven months of the year. I gave the letters to Nancy Burnet of UAAR, who did her own investigation and determined that Maggie did, indeed, need our help.
For more than a year, Nancy worked with Diane Raynor and April Warwick, advising them in their Free Maggie campaign. Pat Derby and Ed Stewart, directors of the PAWS animal sanctuary near San Andreas, California, agreed to accept Maggie. An elephant is an expensive guest, but I assured Pat that it would be a pleasure for me to pick up Maggie’s tab. In my opinion, the PAWS sanctuary provides the best life possible for an elephant, short of its own natural habitat, and after living all those years in Alaska under difficult conditions, Maggie deserved the best.
Moving an elephant from Alaska to California is no small chore. For transportation, I turned to Congressman Bill Young of Florida. Bill is a dear friend of mine and a great friend to animals. Maggie’s plight had been well publicized, so Bill knew her story and was delighted to learn that Maggie was moving to California. He said, “Bob, I think I can get Maggie a ride.”
A couple of days later, I received a telephone call from General Michael Mosley of the United States Air Force, who told me that the air force had an airplane that Maggie would fit in perfectly. It would pick her up in Anchorage and fly her to Travis Air Force Base, which is a short drive from the PAWS Sanctuary. Let me hasten to add that if you are a taxpayer, fear not. I paid the Air Force for Maggie’s flight. It took all of my frequent flier miles!
Two weeks ago, Nancy Burnet and I went up to PAWS to help celebrate Ruby’s first anniversary at the sanctuary. Ruby is another elephant, and Nancy and I helped get her out of the Los Angeles Zoo and into the sanctuary. Perhaps you saw me feeding Ruby some of her cake on television. After seeing Ruby roaming over acres and acres of beautiful countryside filled with trees, a pond, a mud hole—all of the things that keep elephants happy and healthy—it is easy to understand why more and more enlightened, progressive zoos are closing their elephant exhibits.
While we were at PAWS for Ruby’s anniversary celebration, we visited all eleven elephants living there, including Maggie. Maggie is gaining weight and strength, and she has made friends with the other elephants. Ed Stewart pointed out that they knew she was enjoying her new home when she ripped up her first tree. Happy elephants apparently love to rip up trees. She is, of course, deeply grateful to Congressman Bill Young and General Michael Mosley of the United States Air Force.
• • •
As I come to the end of this book, I realize that there are several people who have played important roles in my life who deserve recognition. First is Joe Torrenueva, who started cutting my hair when I was hosting Truth or Consequences in Burbank, and is still cutting it forty-two years later. He had just begun as a hairstylist when I met him, but he later cut hair for many of Hollywood’s biggest stars, including Robert Redford, Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Steve McQueen, Brad Pitt, Robert Wagner, and Charles Bronson. Interestingly enough, he was the stylist who gave the $400 haircut to John Edwards.
Joe didn’t charge Edwards $400 for the haircut. Joe