The story of Tina Dow’s love for elephants began in another story, tucked away in the pages of her first Little Golden Book. Never could she predict that someday she’d work with the same creatures that fascinated her as a little girl. It was the mighty elephant that steered her back onto an academic path. Dow, who grew up in Cumberland, Md., earned her bachelor’s degree in Animal and Veterinary Sciences at West Virginia University in 2002. After graduating, she didn’t know quite what to do. She enrolled in some courses at the University of Connecticut and took an internship at Roger Williams Park …