Elizabeth rules the roads

Press, 24 January 1984, Page 9

Elizabeth rules the roads

Although Elizabeth the sea elephant may be a traffic hazard, it is unlikely that she will be moved from Christchurch.

The huge mammal was sunbathing on the road in Woolston on Saturday morning when she was hit by a car. Her injuries were not serious. The chief traffic officer with the Ministry of Transport in Christchurch, Mr G. W. Hames, said yesterday that Elizabeth could come up on to the road again, but

he was unsure of what he could do about it.

“Animals often pose a traffic hazard, but with horses, cats or dogs, you can speak to the owners,” he said.

“We can’t very well go and speak severely to Elizabeth.” Some action would have to be taken if she repeated her Saturday morning sunbathe.

“I guess we will have to speak to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries

about it,” said Mr Hames. The regional fisheries officer with the Ministry, Mr R. V. Reid, said yesterday that moving Elizabeth would be a complicated and costly business. “Under the Marine Mammals Protection Act, 1978, we can’t disturb her at all. She could go into Cathedral Square and bask in the sunshine for a week and we couldn’t do anything about it.”

Capturing the one-tonne

sea elephant and transporting her away would be a huge undertaking. If it were on land, a crane would be necessary — if anyone could get close to her.

“She would need to be taken miles away if we didn’t want her to come back here again,” Mr Reid said.

She couldn’t be captured in the water, in case she drowned.

“It is really out of the question, as is the idea of

destroying her.”

Elizabeth has been around Christchurch for four years now, and had become a local identity. “Imagine the outcry from a lot of people in Christchurch if we took her awav,” said Mr Reid.

He said that he and other fisheries officers had kept an eye on her since the accident on Saturday morn-

“She seems to have recovered completely.”