VIENNA – Austria’s economy minister has become the symbolic godmother of a young elephant, in a nod of thanks after the government used a cartoon of the large mammal as a reference to help people put pandemic distancing recommendations into perspective.
Margarete Schramboeck was named godmother to Kibali the elephant in a ceremony at Vienna’s Schoenbrunn Zoo on Monday. In order to help Austrians envision keeping the recommended one-meter (3.28 feet) apart, Schramboeck said authorities had spread the message it was “the length of a baby elephant.” A government video had showed a cartoon of a baby elephant to drive the point home.