Looking for the Belfast blitz's babysitter

Antipodean Andy · Apr 2, 2009

Wanted: Elephant's blitz babysitter - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Northern Ireland's Belfast Zoo is celebrating its 75th anniversary with an appeal to clear up a mystery which has puzzled staff for decades.

The zoo wants to identify a woman who lived nearby in the 1940s and looked after one of its baby elephants in her garden to save it from German bombs during World War II.

More than 20 of the zoo's animals were put down during the Belfast blitz of 1941 for fear that they would break free and attack the public.

But thanks to the mystery woman, the elephant was saved, and lived on for a quarter of a century.
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Belfast zoo hunts 'elephant angel' - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Belfast zoo has launched a search for a mystery woman who sheltered a baby elephant named Sheila during World War II.

The woman, dubbed the "elephant angel", housed Sheila in her back garden for parts of the war because of fears the zoo would be hit during the 1941 Belfast Blitz.

"The woman is something of a zoo legend," said manager Joy Bond.

"The pictures have been here a long time but nobody had been able to identify her."

Grainy black and white photographs issued by the zoo give no clue to the identity of the woman, but Ms Bond said several people had called saying they could be the woman's neighbours.

"Sheila the elephant arrived to the zoo in the late 1930s, and lived until the early 1960s," added zoo chief Mark Challis.

"If it wasn't for the care of this lady that may not have been the case."

During the war the government ordered the killing of 33 animals including one hyena, six wolves, one puma, one tiger, one black bear, two polar bears and one lynx, due to fears they could escape during air raids, the zoo said.
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