Kyle Green | The Roanoke Times

Cindy Morris gives a bath to 48-year-old Cora, who, with another pachyderm, will be part of an elephant exhibit at the Salem Fair, which opens this afternoon.

Of all the big eaters headed to the Salem Fair, all the hearty appetites hungry for fried Oreos and chicken on a stick, none can compete with Cora.

The Asian elephant will eat nearly 300 pounds of hay and grain today and every day of the fair's 11-day run. (On the other end of business, she will fill about five wheelbarrows daily.)

Cora stepped out of her trailer Wednesday onto a fresh patch of pine shavings, followed by a leaner African elephant, Shannon. The two are the stars of Elephant Encounter, one of the five animal attractions at the fair.

Cora is 48 and a movie star ("Smokey and the Bandit II"), said Bill Morris, the elephant handler.

Shannon is about 26 and -- "Shannon, don't tip that over," Morris barked as the elephant poked her trunk into a plastic barrel. He sighed.

"They're just like kids, constantly trying you."

Morris, a third-generation elephant man, considers the animals family.

"They're so intelligent, you just don't want to be around another animal," he said.

When a previous pachyderm became sick with pneumonia, he had her placed in an oxygen tent.

At the Salem Fair, Morris will lead Shannon and Cora through free 30-minute shows. He stresses the difference between the African and Asian breeds, a list of differences from toenails to trunks.

For one, their ears are shaped like the continent they come from, said the Florida-based Morris. And there's a weight difference.

Cora weighs 9,000 pounds, a ton and a half more than Shannon.

-- Pete Dybdahl