I'm Really Not This Shallow

Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo has been having problems lately. The most obvious trouble has been with the elephants, which have been dying. A year ago, the zoo had three African elephants, two of which have died since October. The final elephant was transferred to another zoo in Utah over the weekend, but it died there Sunday night after getting ill during transit (details here). There's talk that Lincoln Park Zoo might do away with the elephant exhibit altogether, if it can't provide a healthy environment. Administered by the city of Chicago, the zoo has free admission and is a wonderful resource in many ways. What has happened to the elephants is tragic, and I truly hope that any inherent problems the zoo has can be resolved. However, I can't help having a Beavis and Butthead reaction whenever I hear the name of the last poor beast: Wankie the elephant.

Apropos of nothing, I wonder if that's the same name the horse had in the joke Laura Bush told about the President at the White House Correspondents Dinner.