![]() The bill was defeated by one vote, but the circus has NOT returned to Honolulu since Tyke’s death. The citizens of Honolulu were so outraged that they petitioned for a bill to be passed banning wild performing animals from Hawaii. As were the images of children standing on the side of the road at Tyke’s makeshift grave with signs reading “Circuses are no fun for animals” made me break in to what Oprah affectionately calls “the ugly cry”. Watching the footage of this event was heartbreaking for me and brought me to tears as I watched this beautiful animal be taken out like a scene from a Los Angeles car chase gone wrong. Tyke’s running away was probably the most natural thing she had done since being taken into captivity. All warnings were ignored and on Augin Honolulu, Tyke was shot 87 times all over her body after killing Campbell and running down the streets of Hawaii. With Tyke, there were two incidents that occurred in North Dakota and Altoona, PA before arriving in Hawaii were the Hawthorn Corporation and Allen Campbell had been warned that Tyke’s unpredictable behavior may have resulted in tragedy. They are VERY patient and have VERY long memory banks. However, their temper is little more fiery than their Asian counterparts, who are known to wait for years to kill you if they see fit. African elephants are apparently very bright, intelligent and will remember you forever for good or bad. Not to mention the fact that she was an African elephant. Their method of “heavy-handed” and “aggressive” training were speculated to contribute to Tyke’s ultimate acting out. The Hawthorn Corporation was also allegedly known for chaining their elephants for up to 22 hours a day and only released for rehearsal and performances. A corporation known to be the largest owner of wild performing animals in the United States and for leasing their trainers and animals to circuses around the world for performances. There were only two trainers in history that could contain her, Tyrone Taylor and Allen Campbell – who would lose his life in front of hundreds of circus spectators in Honolulu.Ĭampbell and Taylor were employees of the Hawthorn Corporation. She was strong-willed and had a very long memory. That baby elephant was Tyke and it was evident early on that she was no ordinary circus elephant. In 1973, a baby elephant was captured in the wilds of Mozambique, shipped to the United States and trained for the circus. Now, in 2015 producers Susan Lambert and Stefan Moore are shedding the light on the circus world and how their mistreatment and mishandling of captivated elephants resulted in the untimely demise of one of their own…Tyke: Elephant Outlaw. It chronicled and shed light on how the great white whales were kept and mistreated…ultimately resulting in the death of one of their most beloved trainers. In my opinion, there is something about the concept that is inhumane and unnatural.Ī few years back, the Sea World corporation was under attack after an Oscar-nominated documentary was released called “Blackfish”. No animal…human or otherwise likes being in captivity. So, to some degree, I can imagine what Tyke must have been feeling the day she took off running down the streets of Honolulu in August of 1994. I used to joke that one day I would jump out of my elephant leg like that one black person trapped on the Titanic trying to get to a lifeboat! The reality was it was very heavy, cumbersome and would often times be off balanced. ![]() To the audience, it looks like this majestic, paper elephant gliding down the aisle onto the stage. As a cast member of THE LION KING, I was one of four people who carried a puppeted elephant for the opening number “The Circle of Life”.
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