Earlier this year we had a post on "The Incredible Elephant," which featured a number of stories about this majestic mammal and their vast emotional capacities.  One of those stories was about Tarra the pachyderm and Bella the canine, unlikely but inseparable friends at The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee.  I've been meaning to share a follow-up to their powerful story and the incredible attention it's received (thanks to Susan and Matt Halteman for passing it along): 

In the video, Tarra and Bella's caretakers Carol Buckley and Scott Blais have some poignant things to say about their charges:

See, here at the sanctuary they've got this crazy idea that animals, elephants especially, aren't on this planet just to serve us.  They honestly believe that some animals are here for the same reasons we are, to love and care for others ...  

"There's so much more to them.  They don't need to use them for them to have value.  They have value just being who they are." 

What a statement to make, and one which is very faithful to the Bible's perspective on animals.  We know that all animals belong first to their Creator, that He takes great joy in them just by virtue of the nature and individuality He gave each one of them, and because of the relationship He has with them.  This relationship occurs before, and through, any claim we can make on them (please see our motivation section, and especially the creation resource pg.).

And certainly there must be animals whose primary reason for existence is simply to glorify their Creator, and delight both Him and us in their wild majesty.  Pastor Michael Bullmore and theologian Stephen Webb helped make this principle clear to me as I worked on my seminary capstone paper:

... It is also unquestionable that creation and its creatures exist for God’s pure delight as well ...  Bullmore finds this theme throughout Scripture and significantly in Psalm 104, which references the wide assortment of animals (including) the stork, lion and leviathan: “May the LORD rejoice in his works” (v. 31). 

Bullmore draws a special connection between the Psalm, which observes “the leviathan, which you formed to frolic (in the sea)” (v. 26), and Job 38-41, which incorporates into God’s rejoinder to Job a barrage of boastings regarding the wonders of animals, including the awe-inspiring behemoth and leviathan, and their distinctive behaviors (40:15-41:34).  “While God may not be chuckling gleefully as he provides this description [of the behemoth in particular, 40:15-19], it is evident that he is taking great delight in a prize creation.” 

Stephen Webb ... even calls attention to the New English Bible’s translation of Psalm 104:25-26, which portrays God as playing alongside the mighty leviathan: “Here is the great immeasurable sea, in which move creatures beyond number.  Here ships sail to and fro, here is the Leviathan whom thou hast made thy plaything.”

(From "Not One Sparrow is Forgotten: A Biblical-Theological Foundation for Animal Welfare," pg. 9-10; referencing Michael Bullmore's "The Four Most Important Biblical Passages for a Christian Environmentalism" and Stephen Webb's Good Eating; NIV used except where noted.  Video courtesy of CBS News, Steve Hartman reporting.)