Circus Elephants

The other day I went to a thoroughly enjoyable circus with my young daughter. After the show was finished, we left the building and were immediately confronted with PETA protesters. These twisted sisters were displaying graphic images that caused me to hide my daughter’s eyes.

But in spite of PETA protester rants, it seems as though the treatment of elephants in circuses has improved dramatically over the past century. As PETA was founded in 1980, it is doubtful this has anything to do with PETA at all.

Take, for instance, this article from Mosnews:

Drunk Elephant Wreaks Havoc in Chilly Russian Circus

“A Russian circus resorted to giant vodka cocktails in an attempt to protect performing elephants from extreme cold. One of the animals got so drunk it nearly destroyed the circus, the AFP reported Friday.

The clear liquor was added to the animals’ water buckets as they began to feel the chill of temperatures as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius (minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit), trainer Andrei Kornilov said.”

But at least they didn’t hang, shoot, electrocute or otherwise incarcerate the poor, drunken beast. Judging from the following history of famous circus elephant graves, the drunken beast got off with merely a hoof-slap:

• Jumbo, Medford, Massachusetts
• Died from eating glass
• Norma Jean, Oquawka, Illinois
• Killed by lightning
• Big Charley, Peru, Indiana
• A victim of “several well placed bullets”
• Old Bet, Somers, New York
• she was shot and killed by an angry farmer who murdered her because he thought that it was sinful for poor people to spend money to see an elephant
• Little Bett, Chepachet, Rhode Island
• cut down in a “blizzard of musket fire”
• Black Diamond, Corsicana, Texas
• Killed by a firing squad, manned by eager volunteers, who unloaded fifty bullets into Diamond while he was chained between some trees.
• Kay, Taylorville, Illinois
• Died of kidney failure at age 58 after “a lifetime of free peanut brittle and cotton candy”
• Big Mary, Erwin, Tennessee
• In front of 5,000 spectators gathered to see her execution by hanging, Big Mary was positioned beneath a crane and then yanked aloft by a chain around her neck -- which promptly broke and sent her plummeting to the concrete, knocking her unconscious. A daring spectator, not wanting to disappoint the crowd, dashed forward and reattached the chain. Big Mary was hoisted again, and this time justice was done.
• Old Pitt, Dillon, Montana
• At over 100 years of age, a bolt of lightning zapped down and struck Pitt, knocking her over and killing her instantly
• Ziggy,Chicago, Illinois
• Ziggy died at age 58 after severely injuring himself after falling into an eight-foot moat designed to keep him from zoo visitors.
• Thirsty Mary , Lewiston, Idaho
• Killed from multiple “well-placed” shots.
• Romeo, Killer Elephant, Delavan, Wisconsin
• Romeo killed off five people over a period of 15 years. He crushed one, he impaled another with his tusk, he stamped a third to death. Romeo once escaped from his barn and terrorized the countryside for three days. On another occasion, while appearing in Chicago, he nearly tore the theater apart. He was allowed to live.