Crazy Elephant Dance

Samuel Farinas is a computer engineering graduate who loves puzzles as a hobby.  This version of the Crazy Elephant dance is his take on a puzzle originally designed by Markus Götz.  Samuel created this version via 3D printing to demonstrate this amazing puzzle to others. 

The goal is to remove all 7 elephants from the base.  The arrow on the slider indicates the direction the elephants should eventually exit along. 
It's deceptively simple: remove the elephants from the trace.  Alas, there are rules preventing the long-nosed animals' escape.
1.  They can only be rotated in one spot. 
2.  They can be in one of 3 positions: Pointing up, to the right, or down.
3.  They must point down to pass under the gate. 

Believe it or not, these 3 simple rules make this puzzle take 367 moves to solve and can easily lead to dead ends!  Good luck and enjoy this tantalizing puzzle!

A special thanks to the family of Markus Götz, who has kindly given Samuel permission to use his puzzle design.  Markus was a puzzle inventor and designer and manufacturer of multiple types of puzzles.