So how do you get an 8,000-pound elephant from Anchorage to San Andreas? Because a standard elephant crate is too tall to fit in the cargo bay door of commercial aircraft, PAWS needed a plane with larger doors which left them with few choices except an Air Force cargo plane. The Air Force agreed to fly Maggie from Elmendorf Air Force Base, near Anchorage, to Travis Air Force Base.Zookeepers played aircraft noises and acclimated Maggie to her crate in preparation for the flight. During the flight, Maggie was packed inside a 10,000-pound, cagelike crate measuring 18 feet long, 8 feet wide and 10 feet tall.

According to PAWS president Pat Derby, at ARK 2000 in San Andreas, Maggie will have her own stall in a barn, and an outside yard connected to the larger habitat. She’ll be able to retreat if she wants to be left alone, and to socialize, touch and converse with four other African elephants at the animal sanctuary. Derby says she hopes Maggie will soon be sharing important elephant experiences: the joy of mud bathing, dusting, grazing, browsing and moving freely over the hills of sunny California. PAWS was formed in 1984 to rescue abused or neglected animals— often from circuses, zoos and hunting ranches — and house them through the remainder of their natural lives. PAWS paid all of the Air Force’s costs for moving Maggie, an Air Force statement said. Estimates put the bill around $200,000.