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He’s my best budi!

Thursday, 15 May 2008

A creative young man from South Dublin has won a competition to name Dublin Zoo’s newest resident.
Young Cian Cooke (11) from Tallaght came up with Budi - which means "wise one" in Indonesian - for the first bull elephant born in Ireland after an online competition which attracted hundreds of entries.
Cian said: “I was able to enter the competition online at Dublinzoo.com. My sister told me about it and I decided I would enter.
“I checked on the internet for a few Asian names and then I found an Indonesian one. Budi means wise one. I chose the name because everyone knows that elephants never forget and they are probably wise as well.”
With all eyes on Dublin Zoo in anticipation of the naming of this high profile baby, who was born on February 17, the team there decided to hand the responsibility over to the public.
Keepers have been amazed at the enormous response to its nationwide competition.
Dublin Zoo said Cian was the only person to suggest the cleaver name.
Speaking about the competition, Paul O’Donoghue, assistant to the director of Dublin Zoo, said: “We were delighted with such a great response to the competition with over 1,000 entries received.
“It was clear that there was a lot of effort made to help us find a name for the calf and we are thrilled that we have finally landed on the perfect one for him. All the keepers agree that the name Budi really suits him as it has much relevance to his Asian roots.”
Baby Budi weighed in at about 80kg (176lb) when he was born on February 17 and in just two months he has trebled in size and is now a hefty 260kg.
The hunt for a name began a few days after Budi was born. Budi has spent the last two months getting used to his surroundings in the Kaziranga Forest Trail, along with his mother Yasmin (18) and other elephants Bernhardhine (24) Anak (4) and 11-month-old Asha.
Cian and his family have won a VIP Day Out in Dublin Zoo and an annual pass.
Visitors to Dublin Zoo can see the five elephants in the Kaziranga Forest Trail.
Log onto www.dublinzoo.ie for more details and images of Budi.

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