Blakely the circus elephant had a very special job at the circus. She and the other elephants did all kinds of tricks for the people. The elephants would stand on two legs, they would do funny dances, they would pick things up with their trunks and make loud noises with their trunks.

Blakely loved her circus job. What she loved the most, was giving rides to all the children and of course the treats that the children would give her.

One day Blakely was not feeling very active. When it came time to give the children rides, Blakely was feeling very sore and could not walk very far. When the other elephants were doing tricks and dancing around the circus, Blakely just could not keep up. Her trainer said, “I think you are getting a bit too old to do circus tricks.” “That’s okay we all get old,” said the trainer.

The next day, the trainer brought in a new elephant to replace Blakely. When Blakely saw her time performing at the circus was up, she was very very sad. Her trainer would not let her do any tricks or give any rides to the children. Blakely was so sad that she left the circus area, she had never been on her own before. She wandered around town sad and lost. When people passed by, Blakey tried to do tricks and dance, but the people just ran off scared.