An Elephant Called Slowly
An Elephant Called Slowly is a 1969 British film directed by James Hill and starring Virginia McKenna, Bill Travers and Pole Pole the elephant. It was written by Travers and Hill.
Premise
The film showcasesthe adventures of Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna, with three African elephants at Tsavo National Park.Cast
- Virginia McKenna as Ginny
- Bill Travers as Bill
- Vinay Inambar as Mr Mophagee
- Joab Collins as Henry
- Ali Twaha as Mutiso
- Raffles Harman
- George Adamson as himself
Pole Pole, the elephant
Pole Pole was a young elephant that had been captured as an orphan, from the wild and was being temporarily held in Nairobi before a relocation to UK. It was one of the three elephants used in the film.Once production of the film ended, Pole Pole, aged two, was donated by the Government of Kenya as a gift to the Queen. This was despite efforts to save it from the relocation to a zoo in London. In UK it was to be held in an enclosed environment, unlike in Kenya, where it roamed freely in the wild.
The elephant later on died, years later, at Regent Zoo in London, while in the process of being transferred to a different facility, Whipsnade Zoo. Its death led to the creation of the Born Free Foundation by Travers and McKenna to look after the welfare of animals, including elephants.