Vienna: Austria’s economy minister has become the symbolic 'godmother' of a young elephant, in a nod of thanks after the government used a cartoon of the large mammal as a reference to help people put pandemic distancing recommendations into perspective.
Margarete Schramboeck was named godmother to 'Kibali', the baby elephant, in a ceremony at Vienna’s Schoenbrunn Zoo on Monday.
To help Austrians envision keeping the recommended one-meter apart, Schramboeck said authorities had spread the message it was the length of a baby elephant.
Schramboeck said, “Most people and certainly myself, thought of Kibali."
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Now one year old, Kibali has grown past the Austrian coronavirus distance guidance to 1.4 meters long, but zoo director Stephan Hering-Hagenbeck noted her trunk is now exactly a half-meter long.
He says, “Maybe from now on we can say you have to keep as much distance as two Kibali trunks.”
Schramboeck was given a watercolor of the elephant and Kibali was given a cake of hay, fruit and vegetables to celebrate the occasion.
(AP)
