Photo credit 'Buckles Blog' : Josky, second from left, performing for Ringling in 1973

The elephant Josky, whose son Ned was the second elephant in history to be confiscated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), was euthanized last week at the Ringling breeding center in Florida. According to Ringling’s announcement, she suffered from “declining health” though she was only 42 years old.

Though Josky performed briefly for Ringling’s circus, she was mostly used as a breeding elephant, and she produced five babies that we know of during her life. Each birth would have been like this one, with Josky chained by three legs and handlers using bullhooks to control her every move.

Elephants’ family bonds are intense; daughters stay with their mothers for their entire lives, and sons well into their teen years. Circuses destroy those bonds, and Josky endured the trauma of having every one of her babies taken from her, likely before they were a year old and well before they would even have finished nursing

The suffering inherent in circus life is demonstrated in the histories of Josky’s babies. They all endured painful and terrifying training. That was only the beginning of the misery for Josky’s babies, including the two sons that died before her:

• Benjamin died in 1999 at age 4, while traveling with a Ringling show. He drowned evading a bullhook-wielding handler who was trying to get him out of the water.
• Nedperformed in circuses from a very young age, and was reportedly sold to his last trainer, who had a history of animal abuse, for $1. Acting on reports of his emaciated condition, the USDA confiscated him in November of 2007 and brought him to The Elephant Sanctuary. Sadly, it was too late for Ned to be helped, and he died in May of 2008.

Josky’s surviving offspring continue to suffer with Ringling and in a Mexican zoo:

• Benny, born in 1991, was passed around a number of circuses before being illegally sold in 2000 and then smuggled across the border into Mexico. Discovered performing for a circus there, he was confiscated by the Mexican authorities and taken to a zoo. Attempts to repatriate him have failed so far.
• Luna, now 26, performs with Ringling as she has for 20 years. Eyewitnesses have repeatedly reported Luna being bullhooked by Ringling handlers in recent years. She is rarely walked in public and instead driven by truck between train and arena, reportedly because she is an especially dangerous and very angry elephant.
• P.T. is not quite 8 years old. When he was five, Ringling attempted to use him in the circus but, according to a whistleblower account, he attacked trainer Joe Frisco. Ringling would admit only that P.T. “did not adapt well to life with the circus”. He has been confined to the breeding center ever since.

The sad stories of Josky and her babies Benjamin, Ned, Benny, Luna and P.T., are by no means rare among elephants used in the circus industry. Denied everything natural to them – family, room to roam, and the ability to make choices in their lives – they endure. Or, like Josky and her sons, they die before their time.

Please work with IDA to end circus’ exploitation of elephants. Send a quick email to the USDA here. And stay tuned as we continue to take action on behalf of elephants in circuses.

This blog was contributed by Deborah Robinson, IDA’s Captive Elephant Specialist.