How do you give an elephant a pedicure? It's the passion of one man at Roger Williams Park Zoo

PROVIDENCE − Alice, the 38-year-old lady getting a pedicure, seemed to enjoy the washing, brushing and filing of her feet.

All four of them.

At 8,800 pounds, the African elephant is the smallest of Brett Haskins' regular clients, and keeping her feet healthy is a big and important job.

"You can imagine being this big, all the weight that's on their feet, how important their feet are," says Haskins, elephant zookeeper at Roger Williams Park Zoo.

With 25 years of experience caring for elephants, Haskins traveled 7,300 miles to Nepal in November and helped with an elephant health camp where experts gave Asian elephants check-ups, vaccinated them and treated their ailments.

Haskins gave pedicures to nearly 100 elephants and provided hands-on training for local elephant handlers, called mahouts, on taking care of their elephants' feet, spotting and heading off potential problems.

Elephants in Nepal are important but endangered

Asian elephants are an important part of Nepal's economy for their role in ecotourism, as well as providing transportation for humans who ride them in patrolling Nepal's rugged terrain for wildlife poachers, according to Haskins.

But the elephants are endangered, and Haskins' work in Nepal was part of the Rhode Island zoo's effort to support wildlife conservation. His trip was sponsored by the Katie Adamson Conservation Fund, and the health camp was run by the National Trust for Nature Conservation.

In Nepal, a country on the southern slopes of the Himalayan mountains in Southeast Asia, Haskins worked with local mahouts, who typically care for an individual elephant from the animal's birth. They develop such a close association with their elephants that they sleep on cots next to the animals, Haskins says.

For treatment in Nepal, the Asian elephants, which can grow to 12 feet tall and weigh up to 12,000 pounds, would be coaxed to lie on their sides so Haskins could check and fix their feet. The treatment was often administered as everyday life in Nepal – motorcyclists, cattle, goats, dogs – swirled around them.

The elephants were unperturbed by most of the activity, but dogs would make them uneasy. "They don't like dogs," Haskins says. "You have to watch your position," because with dogs nearby, the elephants will "hop right up on you."

Haskins' interest in elephants was sparked in childhood

Working with elephants is both delicate and dangerous. Haskins, 50, of North Kingstown, developed an interest in the animals as a kid when he'd visit the Brookfield Zoo outside Chicago. There, the zookeepers would let him touch and feed apples to an elephant named Affie.

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"I love elephants," he says, everything about them, even the way they smell after they've played in the rain and mud.

Elephants are sensitive, complex and communicative, according to Haskins. They're intelligent, he says, and can process information "on a different level."

"It's very humbling to stand next to them and stare into their eyes," he says. "I think something happens when you share that space with them."

Still, whenever Haskins thinks he has them figured out, he realizes how much he doesn't know. They're complicated animals. They can get angry; they can be stubborn.

"You can't make a 5-ton animal do anything it doesn't want to do, and a lot of people have died trying," he says.

In Providence one day last week, slices of watermelon, sweet potato, chopped celery and green beans helped Alice decide that she wanted a pedicure.

Elephant foot care is part spa treatment, part ballet

Alice is one of three African elephants at the zoo. The others are Ginny and Kate, and they are sometimes referred to as "the ladies." They all get regular foot check-ups and care.

The operation in Providence is different from Nepal, with no motorcycles whizzing past or dogs to worry about. The elephants are brought inside and remain standing, lifting their feet onto a stand where Haskins can get a close look and go to work.

The pedicures are a two-human job and can look like a choreographed dance. With a combination of voice and visual cues, handler Kaitlin Rebello coaxes Alice to shift, spin and move her big body, then gracefully present each foot on the stand.

Alice is rewarded with pieces of vegetables that Rebello tosses into her open mouth like Jayson Tatum making a mid-range jump shot.

Haskins works with a set of tools that look more suited to a carpenter than a pedicurist. One file is 14 inches long. Haskins inspects the elephants' feet for uneven wear that could lead to long-term problems the way an unevenly worn pair of shoes could hurt human feet.

He shaves, files and clips where necessary.

As Haskins, Rebello and Alice work their smooth, soothing dance, a handful of children and parents watch. The kids, most of them sitting in strollers, seem awed by the massive elephant. And some of the parents may be just a little jealous of Alice's spa treatment.

When Haskins finished his work, Alice got more sweet treats and then the pampered pachyderm ambled off on her rejuvenated feet.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: For elephants at Roger William's Park Zoo pedicures are key to health