Tucker the elephant is three years old and has been at the Houston Zoo for about a month with this mother, Tess. Sunday, when it was clear the storm threat had passed and employees were removing tree debris from zoo grounds, the elephant keepers invited Tucker to help.
The young elephant readily accepted and accompanied his keepers to two spots in the zoo not far from the McNair Asian Elephant habitat. He picked up some tree debris, helped with some sweeping up and then went back to the barn to share his experience with his mother and the rest of the herd.