Editor,
Before you go to the circus this year, think about Kenny and Tia.
A roadside attraction in Iowa wanted an elephant to give rides and entertain the public. In May 1991, Tia was purchased and sent to an elephant training facility in Wisconsin. Upon arrival, she was led inside a barn and all four legs were shackled. Restrained and unable to flee, she was beaten viciously with baseball bats and ax handles.
Her trainers, not satisfied with the stinging pain inflicted by standard electric prods, invented their own version of electrical shock training. They wrapped an electrical cord around an ax handle. Exposed wires at one end of the cord were fastened to two screws embedded in the handle. The other end was plugged into an electrical outlet. Each time the metal screws were pressed against her delicate skin, Tia was jolted with a 110-volt electrical current.
Confused and terrified, she would suffer even more injuries every time she struggled to escape or attempted to defend herself. She remained there for four months.
When the chains were finally removed, she could hardly walk. Tia's physical and psychological abuse left her dispirited and covered with cuts, open wounds, and scars. In December 1992, Tia was sent to another dilapidated amusement center in Virginia, where elephants were left in the hot sun with no shade or water, or chained inside a building with feces-smeared walls and urine-soaked floors. Far short of her 70-year life expectancy, she died there in January 1996.
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Kenny was born at Ringling Bothers' conservation facility on Aug. 19, 1994. Like all baby elephants born at Ringling, Kenny's real mother was soon replaced with a surrogate, the bullhook-wielding trainer. The bullhook, or ankus, has a long handle and a sharp metal hook used to discipline elephants. Although an elephant's skin is thick, it is sensitive enough for them to feel the pain of an insect bite.
Trainers embed the hook into the soft tissue behind the ears and inside the mouth or tender spots under the chin and around the feet. At barely two years of age, Kenny, an endangered Asian elephant, was relegated to the status of a clumsy clown as he was shipped around the country in a rail car and made to perform silly tricks.
On Jan. 24, 1998, Kenny was clearly very sick when the circus was performing in Jacksonville, Fla. The trauma of being taken from his mother and the rigors of travel likely stressed his delicate immune system. Kenny was nevertheless forced to suffer through two last performances. He died later that evening, alone in his stall and without veterinary care.
The stories of Tia and Kenny are not isolated incidents. This sort of treatment of elephants and other animals is pandemic in circuses all over the world.
The circus is coming to Tingley Coliseum this weekend. Attending a circus that uses animals only supports the kind of treatment outlined above.
If you have to go, be a watchdog. Look for signs that any of the animals are being mistreated such as saddle sores, punctures, raw skin or other wounds, elephants sleeping during the day or lying on their sides, rusty or dirty enclosures, repetitive movements or other manifestations of stress, any other signs of illness or injury, or anything else that seems suspicious. If you do see something suspicious, contact the U.S. Department of Agriculture immediately and ask for an inspector, and also call our local animal control department.
Richard "Bugman" Fagerlund
UNM staff
