Faithful Elephants

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Faithful Elephants is a story written by Yukio Tsuchiya in the 1950's and is based on a true story. It takes place in a zoo during World War II. The Japanese Army had requested that every zoo in Japan poison their large or dangerous animals because were worried that these animals would escape and harm the general public if a bomb detonated near the zoo.

The aforementioned animals died until only three African elephants were left, which had to be poisoned due to their large size. Because the poison did not work on them, they were starved to death. These elephants are now commemorated at the zoo and are being buried under a special monument with many of the other animals.