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Attapulgus has several noteworthy businesses and organizations that draw attention to the little town, including BASF and the University of Georgia’s Attapulgus Research Center. However, one organization that has drawn many eyes from at home and abroad is Elephant Refuge North America (ERNA). As the name says, this is a sanctuary for retired elephants, and is the second one to be founded by Carol Buckley.

Buckley is not a Decatur native, having grown up in California. It was while growing up that she developed her lifelong love for animals, and specifically the relationships that people could build with them.

“During high school my friends knew that the perfect birthday present they could give me was a pet,” she recalled. “You could say I was drawn to animals and felt like I could be myself with animals.”

This love eventually led to Buckley attending Moorpark College to study exotic animal training. And it was while studying at Moorpark in 1974 that Buckley would meet her lifelong companion and adoptive daughter: a baby elephant then known as Fluffy. The calf had been recently imported from Myanmar to the Jungleland private zoo, only to be sold to the owner of a tire dealership.

Buckley took an immediate interest in Fluffy, and after helping care for her for a time, purchased her from the dealership, renaming her Tarra. Buckley put her training to work, and she and Tarra would go on to perform in shows, as well as make appearances in TV and film.

But, after several years on the road, the duo would grow tired of performing, and ultimately Buckley left show business behind. Instead, she began to work in zoos as an elephant caretaker. All the while though, just like any other parent, Buckley had bigger and better plans for Tarra.

“I dreamt my sanctuary dream for 10 years, starting from the time Tarra was 10 years old,” she said. “I built the dream in my mind, step by step, acre by acre, until the vision was so real in my mind that it was time to manifest it.”

That dream did manifest itself, as The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee. Buckley declined to renew her contract with the Nashville Zoo, and purchased a parcel of land in Hohenwald, Tennessee, in November of 1994. The barn was completed in March of 1995, at which point she and Tarra moved into their new home. Over the coming years, the sanctuary would grow, accommodating more and more elephants.

Unfortunately, hard times for the duo were on the horizon. Buckley ended up disagreeing with, and ultimately falling out with the other members of the Sanctuary board. She was removed from her position at the Sanctuary, and also lost not only her role as Tarra’s caregiver, but even her visitation rights.

Not one to give up easily, Buckley pursued legal action, ultimately winning custody of Tarra, albeit after ten years of fighting in the courts. It was during this ten-year period, amid the legal turmoil, that Buckley would spend time in Asia, training locals on how to properly care for elephants.

It was also during this time that Buckley decided to start over and found a new sanctuary. After three years of looking, she nearly settled on a spot in southern Alabama.

“I knew it wasn’t quite right, but allowed myself to be influenced that perhaps what I was looking for did not exist, and that this piece of land was close enough to my vision,” she recalled. But within just a few days, she came across the property in Attapulgus. The hot and humid climate of Decatur County and southwest Georgia is perfect for elephants, as it’s rather close to their native climates.“Immediately it was obvious that this was it, we’d found the land for the new sanctuary in Georgia.”

Now, Buckley resides on the sanctuary grounds with Tarra, as well as the other two residents, Asian elephant Bo, and the most recent arrival, African elephant Mundi. She hopes to expand the sanctuary’s staff and facilities in order to take in more elephants, as well as their educational efforts in the local communities.

Few people can say they’ve left such a legacy behind, having done so much to help such majestic and endangered animals. Though, Buckley feels she’s gained from her efforts as well.

“Spending my life learning from and caring for elephants has brought me profound joy and amazing experiences,” she said. “For this I am eternally grateful. The wisdom and intellectual depth elephants possess is difficult to convey in words, they simply have an indescribable presence. My life has been blessed by elephants.”