7/19/13

The Story of Ellie the Elephant

Like I do almost every day at work, I was swimming around the Giant Ocean Tank yesterday, feeding critters and waving to people through the awesome new windows, when I noticed something fall into the tank.

An accidental dip in the Giant Ocean Tank | Photo: @AlecCouros via

Turns out, it was Ellie the elephant. She was visiting the Aquarium with her family when she accidentally went for a dip. That's when I heard a faint "Diver guy?" come from behind the glass wall at the top.

Chris, scuba diver and stuffed elephant rescuer

I swam over, picked it up, and tossed it to one of our dedicated volunteers on the dive platform. This prompted a round of applause from the onlookers.
A triptych that tells the story of Ellie the elephant: 1) Bea & 'Ellie' the elephant. 2) Ellie falls into NE Aquarium 
3) Bea & Ellie reunited w/ help of the friendly diver
Photo: @AlecCouros via

The story of this dramatic rescue first broke on the Aquarium's Twitter page like this:



It was over in a flash and I'm glad that we were able to keep Ellie (and the animals in the big tank) safe. She definitely looks well loved. I'm sure that's one pink elephant that will be bragging to her stuffed friends that she went for a swim in the GOT. [Unfortunately, this is not the first time an item has fallen into the exhibit. In fact, it happens all too often.]



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