ELEPHANTS IN SHOW BUSINESS

Elephants are in the working class of animals that include horses, camels, dogs etc. They are the biggest and as such, can do the heaviest work. And as they are so big they are the costliest to feed.

Their strength is their great asset. Their tusks are their great liability. Ivory! Poachers kill the animals just for their tusks and leave nature take care of the bodies.

Elephants are a means of transportation. A smoother ride and a better disposition than a camel. Over the years, elephants have become valuable in various countries in many fields of labor such as pushing train- cars in train-station yards. They are used in teak harvesting in Burma. They move through the forests without the need for a road, even in the muddiest of conditions. Unlike tractors they do not destroy the land and the trees.

Elephants are symbols of good luck and peace. History is filled with elephants given as gifts between rulers. The King of Scotland to the Anglo ruler of Britain. Louis IX of France to Henry III of England. Invaders like Alexander the Great and Hannibal received elephants as peace offering from the rulers of the lands they conquered.

Both these men used elephants in their marches to conquer their known worlds. Elephants were used in the Crusades and thus became favorites of the Popes. An albino elephant was given by the King of Portugal to Pope Leo X at the Popes ordination.

In the early 17^th century, a female elephant named Hansken toured Europe performing tricks, thus introducing elephants to show business, both as performers and workers setting up circus tents etc..

The standard of

elephants in show business was

JUMBO

Jumbo was born in Sudan. After two poachers killed his parents for the ivory, the poachers took the young calf to an Italian exotic animal dealer, who then brought it to Trieste and sold it to a German zookeeper who quickly sold it to a Paris zoo. It was the first African elephant to set foot in Europe. All the countless other elephants that Europe experienced were Indian elephants.

A big reason for this elephant being sold so quickly was the animal was growing and growing and was eating more and more.

Jumbo was it’s name. As he soon became larger than any other known elephant, the name ‘Jumbo’ was used to depict anything of extra large size like jumbo shrimp or jumbo jet.

The youngster was ill cared for in France and arraignments were made to have it treated in London by Matthew Scott, who went to the French Coast to pick it up. Scott had never encountered a sicklier beast. Sore all over. Feet rotten, on the brink of death. Scott brought Jumbo to his stable outside London. Months of 24 hour days, hard work, veterinary expertise, and whole lot of love brought Jumbo into the realm of good health. Scott had worked a miracle. And fought to have the young giant stay in London.

The head of the London Zoo, Adam Bartlett, negotiated the trade of Jumbo from the Paris Zoo for a  rhino, a jackal, two eagles, a pair of dingoes, a possum and a kangaroo”.

Jumbo was enclosed in a circular cement enclosure. He hated it! He actually wore down his tusks rubbing them against the wall. Scott suggested finding a sweetheart for Jumbo. One was found on the west coast of Africa and brought to London. Barely four years old, Jumbo fell in love at first sight with ‘Alice’ and the two became life long companions.

They also became the Zoo’s most popular attractions. Children of all ages flocked to see the pair for the almost 17 years the two lived at the London Zoo under the watchful eye of Matthew Scott. While Alice was the size of most female elephants, she could almost walk under Jumbo’s stomach.

(When Jumbo died his shoulder height was 10 ft 7in.

His weight was almost 7 tons.)

Both Jumbo and Alice loved the water and Matthew Scott go the Zoo to build a concrete pool big enough for the two could cavort to the delight of the zoo attendees.

Jumbo had two great loves in the zoo, Alice and children. A conveyance was strapped to his back and children were given rides. Winston Churchill said he rode Jumbo several times. Queen Victoria never rode him but she enjoyed watching him.

During one ride,a little tyke broke free from his mother and ran to Jumbo. Jumbo stopped immediately, reached out and clasped the child in his trunk. When the screaming mother got close to Jumbo, to ‘rescue her child’, Jumbo picked the lad up with his trunk and then set it down next to the astonished mother. He loved little ones.

He also loved Matthew Scott. It was Jumbo’s first tour of the US, a tour arranged by PT Barnum. It meant separating Jumbo and Alice and both tried to break free and reunite. Both on the ocean voyage and the tour itself, Scott spent almost all the time comforting the grieving behemoth. The two got drunk together.

It was in Ottumwa, Iowa, when Scott and Jumbo heard a tremendous noise. Thirty elephants had pulled their stakes out and were stampeding towards Jumbo’s special tent.

Jumbo grabbed Scott and, went to the gate of the enclosure. The herd of mad elephants came at him. He stood firm after placing Scott between his legs. He stuck out his trunk and fought off the black mass of animals trying to get out of the enclosure.

Scott couldn’t begin to imagine how many innocent people on the ground, Jumbo saved from death. Scott knew for sure that Jumbo had saved him from certain death.

I wish Scott would have told us in his book what that many elephants were doing in Ottumwa, Iowa, but he didn’t. He just related the incident.

PT Barnum learned a lot from that tour. Jumbo would be a big hit in the US. And Jumbo had to have Alice and also, if possible, Matthew Scott.

(Barnum was a hustler all his life. At age 60, he bought a circus and revolutionized circuses for good. Move them cross country by rail. Parade it to its location. Set it up in at least 2 tents. The big tent, aka the BigTop, another one for freaks and oddities, and a special attraction like Jumbo had its own special tent. With the exception of the merchandise tent, each tent demanded a price to enter, as did the entrance gate where the tickets were sold.)

Barrett, head of the London zoo was relieved when he sold Jumbo and Alice to Barnum. He was elated to hear Scott proclaim, ‘I go where Jumbo goes’.

Jumbo was growing cranky and both the elephant and his trainer were drinking too much. Jumbo liked his booze, a habit he picked up from Scott. Barrett looked upon Jumbo as an accident about to happen. Knowing the sale would evoke an uproar, he sold Jumbo anyway.

(Barnum paid 10,000 and made it all back in the first three weeks, booking the circus in Madison Square Garden .)

The sale did cause a turmoil in England. Over 100,000 school children signed a petition to Queen Victoria to stop the sale. She tried but couldn’t. Jumbo was lost to England forever.

Barrett quickly bought two elephants that could carry children around the zoo. Winston Churchill never said if he rode one of the new elephants.

Drunk or sober, Jumbo was a big attraction in the US and Canada.

It was in the railroad classification yard in St. Thomas, Ontario where Jumbo was killed. The circus performances in that locale were over and the loading of the acts an equipment was underway. Jumbo was walking along a track with a young elephant, Tom Thumb when a train came barreling down on them. Jumbo tried to pull Tom Thumb to safety but the train hit Jumbo broadside and killed the beloved animal. Tom Thumb suffered a broken leg.

And thus ended

Jumbo

a hero in his life and in his death

and the most famous elephant in

Show Business

Elephants in all phases of their use suffer horrendous abuse. Their food is substandard. They are often cuffed on one leg, the legcuff attached to a chain attached to stake in the ground. The legcuff too often cuts into the animal’s leg and just it’s presence keeps the elephant from lying down and sleeping.

And then there is the BULLHOOK, a long metal or wooden rod with a sharp metal hook at the tip, much like a fireplace poker. This hook is poked in the animal’s skin, legs, side, head. It is used as punishment and also as a training weapon to teach an elephant how to work or how to do tricks.

If a bullhook is not handy the abuser grabs anything nearby, like say, a club or even a pitchfork that was used in the London Elephant Abuse Case, a trail that brought elephant abuse to the eyes and horror of the world.

In 2011 all elephants were banned from from circuses along with other wild animals like lions and tigers that were ‘trained’ to perform tricks unnatural to them, like sitting on a stool or standing on a ball. Country after country banned their use. In 2017, Ringling Brothers circus did away with all animals, even performing dogs and prancing horses.

Did that stop elephant abuse? Sadly it continues today in public zoos and private ‘ranches’. Take Anne the elephant in the abuse trial. She was placed in a compound where there wasn’t another elephant within miles. Elephants are family animals. They need the companionship of other elephants. Anne basically was placed in solitary confinement.

I have stories

both personal and related to me

both funny and sad

of elephants

in Show Business

which I will be posting

over time