When elephants weep

The following excerpt was taken from Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson’s book ‘When Elephants Weep’ and was written by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas giving a moving account of Maria and Misha, 2 closely bonded Huskies who were taken away from each other, for those that ever doubted animals feel grief read on.

“Both he and Maria knew that something was terribly wrong when his owners came for him that last time, so that Maria struggled to follow him out the door. When she was prevented, she rushed to the window seat and, with her back to the room, watched Misha get into the car. She stayed in the window for weeks thereafter, sitting backward on the seat with her face to the window and her tail to the room, watching and waiting for Misha. At last she must have realised that he wasn’t going to come. Something happened to her at that point. She lost her radiance and became depressed. She moved more slowly, became less responsive, and got angry rather easily at things that before she would have overlooked…. Maria never recovered from her loss, and although she never forfeited her place as alpha female, she showed no interest in forming a permanent bond with another male….”

Masson, J. & McCartney, S. (1995) Grief, Sadness and The Bones of Elephants In When Elephants Weep; The Emotional Lives of Animals. Dell Publishing, New York. Pp 93