Sugar House Bulletin | 1941-05-02 | Page 4 | Elephant Stand - up Strike Wins Them Hay to Lie On

Elephant Stand-Up Strike Wins Them Hay to Lie On SAN FRANCISCO. Babe and Marge, elephants, won their six-month six-month stand-up strike, but lost 600 pounds between them while doing it. It all began last September, when they and two other elephants in San Francisco's Fleishhacker zoo were moved from their corral, with its deep bed of soft sand, to the new pachyderm house. Fred Chatten, head keeper, proudly led Babe, . Marge, May and Virginia into their I new quarters. But the stolid beasts were not impressed. Their beds : were of cement, hard and cold even to their thick skins. So they went on a stand-up strike. May and Virginia finally gave in. But Babe and Marge scorned stretching out on the concrete floor. They were losing some of their pounds, which began to worry Mr. ! Chatten. He coaxed Babe and j Marge. He consulted other keepers. i He called in zoo officials. Then he returned to the zoo. "Okay, girls," he said to Babe and Marge. "You win. Fresh hay to sleep on every night from now on. But if you eat your mattresses it's the cold cement again."