Salt and pepper to taste.

I'm thinking a slug of white wine would work well in that...

Hey Coign, sorry. I got defensive. No i didn't understand your point and 'reacted'...badly.

But really, without being a farmer I'm about as farmy as they get. I just also have a deep affinity for animals and seeing an animal hurting in any way really upsets me.

I am not a PETA person, though. I think animals fill all sorts of roles in our lives. And honestly, sometimes I do feel like i prefer animals to humans...human animals. Humans have such capacity to inflict pain and suffering. In the critter world, I don't envision the ulterior motives to their behavior. Yes I believe they think and feel, but are driven by instinct. I don't understand hurting them for funsies, and i don't understand why we would think that they don't matter.

As Whitman said "I think I could turn and live with the animals, they are so placid and self-contain'd." I also know, as was pointed out in Life of Pi "that tiger is not your friend." But man I sure wish he were.

Peace.

No, that's another animal myth. This young elephant was perfectly healthy.

One problem is, elephants that are raised in small groups (in captivity typically), don't get enough role model examples of how they should act. They don't learn how other moms in their herd, nurse their young; protect their young, and care for them in general.

And as Coign pointed out, many times mothers in nature (dads too), are not the idyllic animal parents we see in so many wildlife stories and films. They can be very harsh and brutal at times.