On the way back from taking my car in for spring servicing today, I noticed a pile of colourful wire scraps on the ground. The pile was in front of a telephone switching box, so I assumed it was left over from recent work.
My first thought was, "I wonder where I can get coloured wire like that for jewellery-making?" My second thought was, "Go back and pick it up, because you could probably make a wee elephant out of it." So that's exactly what I did.
I washed it to remove any residual cooties, then assessed what I had. It wasn't a lot to work with, but I figured I could do something.
I began by making a body and legs, without much real attention to detail. As long as it stood up, I was happy.
Next, I added a head, trunk and tusks.
To finish it and use up every last bit of wire, I took whatever was left of the yellow and began wrapping it around willy nilly.
It's not the best wire elephant I've ever made, but I kind of like it. It only took me about 15 minutes, measures a mere 1-1/2 inches (3.8 cm) from tip of the trunk to tip of the tail, and it's concocted of sidewalk litter. I wasn't looking for an Earth Day project, but perhaps one was looking for me.
Elephant Lore of the Day
Since it's Earth Day, please spare a thought for endangered pachyderms around the world. Several species of rhinoceros (yes, they're also pachyderms) have become extinct in the past few years, and the world's last male Northern White Rhino has not only been stripped of his horn for his own safety, but lives under constant armed guard.As for elephants, the African elephant is under such threat from ivory poachers that, although its current population is estimated at 400,000, it could become extinct by 2020. Asian elephants are similarly under threat from factors such as habitat loss and human-elephant conflict.
Please spare a thought as well for the brave and committed men and women who devote their lives to protecting wildlife. It isn't an easy job, particularly on the front lines in the war between poachers and conservationists. Poachers are now well funded and highly organized, and have no compunction about killing rangers who get in their way. In Kenya alone, as of October 2013, more than 60 rangers had been killed protecting wildlife.
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| Family of African elephants. Photo: © Martin Harvey/WWF-Canon Source: World Wildlife Fund |
To Support Elephant Welfare
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