If you are reading this, you will be one of the first to hear about this news story. Got a phone call from Brother Bill just a few minutes ago. Thanks to the new age he was calling on his cell phone from Flagstaff, Arizona. As in all our industries, the electronic era has also influenced the trucking industry. The large truck companies have all of their trucks equipped with computers and GPS systems so they can track each of their trucks, set up fuel stops, make changes to routes depending on road conditions and normal communications with the driver. The story that he relayed to me will most likely be on the national news media outlets on Thursday.

A few days ago, Bill was taking a load of cardboard boxes from Denver, Colorado to Phoenix, Arizona. While off loading in Phoenix, he checked his computer system to see where he was going to pick up his next load and his destination. There was an alert for any of the company drivers that were in the Phoenix area who had experience in hauling livestock to contact the dispatcher. Bill responded to the alert that he had hauled livestock before but not in a big rig. He was the only driver to respond to the message so he was dispatched to pick up the load.

The truck that was hauling the load had mechanical problems with the tractor and all they needed was a different tractor to pick up the load. It had originated in San Diego and was destined for Albuereque, New Mexico. When Bill arrived to where the disabled truck was parked, he quickly discovered why it was an emergency pick up. The trailer was a light aluminum trailer in order that it would be cooler when traveling as the livestock were very sensitive to the higher temperatures in the Phoenix area. It was only then that he discovered what his new load would be, four adult elephants! The elephants were part of a circus traveling between California and the midwest, since it was a load of unusual livestock to be hauling, a animal handler had to accompany Bill on the trip.

Bill got the trailer hooked up and checked everything out, it was not a normal trailer but nothing out of the ordinary. He said it was quite a site to watch as they loaded the elephants, said it was much easier than some of the mules and horses that he has seen loaded. They were about six hours behind the remainder the circus convoy and got out of Phoenix at about 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday. The interstate traveling north of Phoenix is pretty level, until you start increasing altitude as you get closer to Flagstaff, Arizona. As a side note, Flagstaff is a beautiful area, rolling hills, large Ponderosa Pine and just south of the south rim of the Grand Canyon, one of my favorite areas.

Going north of Flagstaff, you have to take a state highway across the Navajo Indian Reservation which intersects with an interstate highway and straight shot into Albuereque. The area north of Flagstaff is hilly and the highway has a lot of curves so Bill pulled onto a rest stop just north of Flagstaff to check his tires and do a walk around on the truck. As Bill was walking around the trailer, thumping the ties with his bar, the ride along trainer opened up a small door on the trailer and went inside to check on how his elephants were enjoying their ride. Unknown to Bill, the trainer had left his truck door open. Bill has a full time riding companion, a very small black dog by the name of Spike. Since Bill was out of sight and the door was open, he took it upon himself to go relieve a little water.

Evidently, Spike picked up a scent that was new to him, most likely the scent of elephant so he went to explore while Bill was on the other side of the trailer. He slipped through the small door that the trainer had left open. When he entered the trailer, he saw something that he had never seen before, big gray animals with long noses. Being the typical guard dog for the truck, he had to sound the alert of intruders in the trailer. Bill heard Spike barking and yelled at him, about the same time one of the elephants trumpeted, this really set Spike off and all hell broke loose. Bill said all he knew was that the trailer was jumping up and down as if it were in a terrible earthquake and then out the front of the trailer the largest of the elephants, a bull came plowing through the light aluminum skin of the trailer followed by the other three elephants and Spike!

Bill took this picture and a couple of others with his cell phone and emailed them to me. The hole in the front of the trailer is the one the elephants made for an emergency exit. He had to disconnect the trailer to return to Flagstaff.
Bill rounded the rear of the trailer about the time the trainer was coming out the man door, screaming at the top of his lungs to grab a hook and help him stop the elephants. Bill said he grabbed the same kind of pole the trainer had, something that looks similar to a boat hook and took off on a run after the trainer. If you have ever seen Bill run, he is not the fastest or most graceful of runners. The sun was just setting as they started their round-up, which most likely would have been successful if Spike had not been ahead of them 100 yards and chasing the elephants. Bill thought they could have perhaps caught up with the elephants, but with the trainer screaming at them, Bill screaming at Spike and the Bull elephant trumpeting at the same time, the elephants had but one thought and that was to put some distance between themselves and the chaos that was transpiring around them. When the two of them finally came to the conclusion that they were not going to catch up with them, they slowed their pace to a walk and tracked the elephants,not a difficult task in the desert sands of Arizona. They did catch up with Spike, he was sitting in the middle of the elephant trail, looking into a small canyon which is an arm to the Grand Canyon.

Bill did manage to snap a couple of pictures of one of the elephants while he was taking a break to catch his breath and to call Spike. He said this is the youngest of the four elephants, a young female.
They continued to track the four elephants, until they come across a torn down fence and a big wooden sign that had been trampled by the herd. The words on the sign was "Property of the Navajo Indian Nation, No Trespassing". Already having a herd of angry elephants on the loose, they definitely did not want to get the Indians angry and after them as well, so they retreated back to the truck and wrecked trailer. When Bill called in the report to the highway patrol, I guess it took a lot of convincing to get them to believe his story and what his cargo had been. He was told to drop his trailer as a marker of the scene and return to the patrol headquarters in Flagstaff. Prior to it getting dark and Bill's return to Flagstaff, they did manage to get a plane in the air to locate the elephants, they were spotted on the slopes leading into the Grand Canyon. When he called me from the Patrol Headquarters in Flagstaff, they had already called in all parties concerned to determine how they were going to retrieve the elephants. Bill said the biggest thing discussed was jurisdictional responsibilities as the problem is compounded. Since the incident occurred on a state highway with a commercial truck, both the Arizona Highway Patrol and Federal Department of Transportation is involved. The elephants are in the Grand Canyon National Park, so the U.S. Park Service is involved. Since the elephants crossed into and destroyed the fence on the Navajo Indian Reservation, their Council is involved, not to mention two different counties each having their own Sheriff's Department and the Flagstaff City Police Department. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is also involved because it has jurisdiction of livestock transported across state borders. He said the insurance companies, lawyers of all parties are yet to arrive in Flagstaff but they should be in by morning.
They are now waiting for daylight, however, I guess the plan of action will be to get the Arizona Air National Guard helicopters in the air to locate the elephants. Once they are located, which should be along the Colorado River in the bottom of the canyon, they will then go in from the canyon rim on mules with some Indian trackers, park personnel and assorted other agency personnel including Bill and the trainer. I guess their primary concern is if the elephants do cross the river, how they are going to get across to retrieve them. Typical of Bill, he is cool and undaunted, his comment was "you know, I have always wanted to ride a mule into the bottom of the canyon, this will be my opportunity to live a dream". Sounds to me as if it is more of a nightmare! As for Spike, he is now restricted to the sleeper on the truck for a few days. Don't know how it will all turn out, Bill promised to keep me posted on any new information but I doubt he will have cell phone access in the bottom of the canyon, so perhaps we will see the rest of this story on the news tomorrow.