OOPS: Alaskans swamped the sanctuary with protests after its request to limit Web site use.
OK, folks. The PAWS people got the message.
Spend as much time as you want watching Maggie on the elephant cam at her new California home.
Three days after a notice went up on the Performing Animal Welfare Society's Web site asking visitors to limit their Maggie fixes to 20 minutes, PAWS is backing down.
They got mail. From Alaskans.
"We are exploring options for reducing our costs," elephant trainer Pat Derby said in a written statement issued Thursday.
"We certainly do not wish to curtail any enthusiasm for (Maggie's) activities at the sanctuary, especially from her many loyal friends and fans in Alaska."
Fat chance of that.
Maggie moved to the San Andreas elephant sanctuary last week. Since then, huge numbers of Alaskans have been watching her adjust to her new life -- so much so that PAWS feared soaring satellite costs.
Tamara Wilder, a PAWS director, said some Alaskans were upset by the notice.
"We want them to know they're welcome to access that camera for as long as they want," she said.
The sanctuary is installing a second Web cam to cover a heavily treed habitat beyond the elephant barn. The animals are now blocked from view by trees when they roam in that area, Derby said.
Meanwhile, Maggie continues her across-the-fence flirting with her four African barn mates: Ruby, Mara, 71 and Lulu. On Wednesday, she reached under the fence to swipe a tree branch from Ruby, according to an update at www.pawsweb.org.
Later, as the elephants settled into their barn stalls for the night, Maggie and Ruby roared at each other.
At one point, "Maggie, Lulu and Ruby were all running around in their separate stalls rumbling, trumpeting, urinating and defecating as wild elephants do when they are excited," says a written report on the Web site. "To add to the excitement, 71 and Mara, who were still outside, joined in the display creating a cacophony which reverberated over the hills. ...We humans who were part of the scene were partially deaf for the next hour."
Find Beth Bragg online at adn.com/contact/bbragg.
