Tanzania’s gift of an elephant to Ireland in 1980 left Dublin with a “weighty baby” problem — and having to pay the transport costs, according to archive files made public recently.
The elephant, presented to President Patrick Hillery by President Julius Nyerere during a state visit in February that year, resulted in a “mess,” according to files released by the National Archives Office.
Tanzania’s foreign ministry wrote to the Irish embassy in September asking if it “recalled” that Ireland had agreed to pay the air freight charges of about 66,000 Tanzanian shillings (some 5,000 euros).
“The Ministry would appreciate if the embassy would make the refund at its earliest opportunity,” the letter said.
“Do you have £4,000 to spare?” asks a December telexed memo from the Irish foreign ministry in Dublin to the Dar-es-Salaam embassy.
“None of the three departments we have had to contact in an attempt to sort out this mess has either.
“The upshot of the whole affair is that we are left holding this weighty baby and are stuck with the freight. Anyway, you may discharge the account,” the telex says.
The elephant later took up residence in Dublin Zoo, close to Hillery’s presidential residence in the city’s Phoenix Park.
Down the years animals have occasionally been used as diplomatic gifts.
Last year the Seychelles Islands government donated a pair of Aldabra tortoises to Shanghai Zoo in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
And in 2005 India sparked an outcry by animal rights groups when it transferred an Indian elephant from its home in sweltering Bannergahtta national park to the chillier climes of Armenia.
(AFP WITH STAFF WRITER)
近日公佈的一份歸檔文件顯示，坦尚尼亞一九八Ｏ年送給愛爾蘭一頭大象，這頭「重量級的象寶寶」讓都柏林傷透腦筋──還得負擔一大筆運送費用。
愛爾蘭國家檔案室公開的檔案顯示，一九八Ｏ年二月的一場國是訪問中，坦尚尼亞總統朱利尤斯．尼瑞爾送了這頭大象給愛爾蘭總統派屈克．希拉瑞，結果牠竟成為「大麻煩」。
該年九月，坦尚尼亞外交部致函愛爾蘭大使館，詢問他們是否「記得」愛爾蘭同意要支付大象的空運費用約六萬六千坦尚尼亞先令（約合五千歐元）。
信函中提到：「若大使館能儘早償付這筆費用，（坦國）外交部將會非常感激。」
該年十二月，都柏林愛爾蘭外交部在電傳給駐達雷斯薩拉姆（坦桑尼亞共和國首都）大使館的備忘錄中問：「你們有多餘的四千英鎊嗎？」
「我們迫不得已聯繫的三個部門都無力負擔這個大麻煩的費用。」
電報中說：「結果這整件事演變成我們得處理這個巨嬰的爛攤子，運費最後也落到我們頭上。總而言之，你們或許可以幫忙清償這筆費用。」
這頭大象後來定居在都柏林動物園（希拉瑞總統官邸所在的鳳凰公園附近）。
這些年來，動物偶爾會被當成外交禮物。
去年，塞席爾島政府捐了一對雅達伯拉象龜給上海動物園，當作中國建國六十週年紀念的禮物。
二ＯＯ五年，印度把一頭生長在氣候悶熱的班納加答國家公園的印度象，送給氣候較寒冷的亞美尼亞共和國時，引發動物權利保育團體群起撻伐。
（法新社╱翻譯：袁星塵）
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