[pcottraux]

A circus guy letting his elephants bathe in Loch Ness...that's a bit hard to swallow. Don't most animal keepers just hose the elephants down?

[S0122017]

I don't know. I have never handled elephants before. But i can imagine they like to go for a swim. I once heard from a teacher that he met a circusguy letting out a lion (or a tiger?) in populated area at nighttime, to give the animal a walk. So maybe circus guys let their animals out now and then. A happy animal is a happy animalkeeper!
Also read below:

ELEPHANT ENCYCLOPEDIA http://www.upali.ch/elephant_encyclopedia.html

Do Elephants Like to Swim? Particularly young elephants love swimming and diving. They "fight" the waves in wild abandon, climb about on the older group members and splash back into the water. They are also untiring divers. When watching the animals in the water, the elephant keepers are always relieved to spot the small elephant's trunk peeping out of the water again to take another breath.

http://www.charitywire.com/charity17/02845.html

Even though elephants are excellent swimmers by nature, on July 26th 1999, a baby elephant named Benjamin, mysteriously died while swimming in a pond in Texas. USDA documents show that Benjamin's trainer had allowed him to go into the pond, but when he refused to come out the trainer went into the pond after him with an ankus. "Witnesses state the animal attempted to avoid (the trainer) when he 'poked' the elephant with a stick (ankus)."