I never worked with an elephant where I didn’t have a keeper that was knowledgeable about elephants that was under control of that elephant. And yet I knew that they could slap with their trunks, they could kick, they can smack you with a tail, they can press you, they… Read More
On a different subject, but still within zoos and circuses, how did you deal or how did you see it dealt with animal activists when they were attacking you to the zoo or the surface?… Read More
I can talk that up from a standpoint of foot problems and elephants are always a special challenge. And when I first started, we dealt with physical restraint as the only means of examining those feet and treating foot problems. Nowadays with the advancement and training procedures and so forth,… Read More
You mentioned that thankfully you’ve never been hurt working with elephants. Read More
Have there been some memorable situations where for one reason or another, you might’ve been in an awkward position or something that surprised you so much about the intelligence of an individual elephant, that you were quite aware that it was very unusual when you were doing your medical issues… Read More
Were there some situations that stand out?… Read More
Well, the work with the animals in a circus is straightforward, no problem there. The challenge as I see it is actually with people and that gets back to same old, same old, or communication is the challenge. Circus people have been hammered on from a variety of situations, a… Read More
They may have reasons for that, there are other animals to do the same thing. I had an African gray parrot that hated women. And yet I could do anything I wanted to, and any man could perhaps do the same thing, but they didn’t like… There are pets that… Read More
You talked about, and then when we talk about the elephants, what would you say have been some of the major medical improvements and advancements in dealing with elephant medicine from when you first started?… Read More
I was gonna ask, did you find early on that each one had its own personality, and likes and dislikes?… Read More
They surely do, every animal has their own personality, and elephants are no exception. And there are good elephants, there are bad elephants, and I’m fully aware of all the fatalities that have occurred with elephant accidents and actual, not accidents, but incidents where elephants have been responsible for the… Read More
We had mentioned that circus life is not for every person. Read More
What did you like about working with the circus animals and what was the dislikes of that?… Read More
Was it just, there you’re were at the circus and they were they were?… Read More
(chuckles) Again, the involvement with elephants started with a case. And that case was a young elephant that was brought to the university, to veterinary school, and I was put in charge of it. And I actually developed or diagnosed ascorbic acid deficiency, which is vitamin C. And it turns… Read More
We had two elephants of the Sacramento Zoo, so I had a lot of experience with them, good experiences, they were good elephants, well-trained elephants under free contact. Got spoiled relative to that. I’ve subsequently of when I, at one time looked at the case records of animals that I… Read More
How many circuses, you’ve worked for really have you worked for other circuses?… Read More
Over the years, I’ve worked for maybe three or four different ones, some of which I can’t even name right now, but size, one of the most controversial situations right now relative to elephants, is a company called Have Trunk Will Travel. And I know the Johnsons, I know them… Read More
And Gary or Gary’s dad said, “I’ll take it.” And we tried to rehabilitate it. And it became a usable animal. And in fact, it’s still in use in Europe, it’s been used in circuses over there. Read More
So how did you begin working with elephants?… Read More