General Information about 2002:

King Tusk, also known as Tommy, was born in India and brought to the United States in 1945, euthanized due to osteoarthritis

King Tusk, Ringling Bros. Asian Elephant Ambassador, Dies at 57 Years of Age

2002-12-22 - Vienna, Virginia, United States. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® Press release

King Tusk, a 57-year-old male Asian elephant living in retirement with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey®, was humanely euthanized yesterday (Saturday, December 21). A magnificent and beautiful Asian elephant with 6-foot-long tusks, King Tusk was a star performer with Ringling Bros. in the 1980s and early 1990s. He passed away quietly at Ringling Bros. elephant retirement facility in northern Florida in the company of his pachyderm companions and human caretakers.

conflict

Drunk elephants kill six people

2002-12-17 - Tinsukia, India.

Drunken elephants have trampled at least six people to death in the northeast Indian state of Assam, local officials say. Police said four of those killed were children. The herd of wild elephants stumbled across the supplies of homemade rice beer after they destroyed granaries in search of food. The incident happened near Tinsukia, 550 kilometres (344 miles) from the Assam capital, Guwahati.

accident

Elephant attacks, injures keeper Michael Embury at Miami zoo

2002-12-17 - Miami, United States. Jane Sutton

A 6,000-pound (2,700 kg) elephant smashed a rookie zookeeper against a rockpile at Miami's MetroZoo, badly injuring the man in what a zoo spokesman described as an attack to test dominance in the herd. The injured zookeeper, Michael Embury, 31, was hospitalized in critical but stable condition after undergoing surgery on Monday, zoo spokesman Ron Magill said. He suffered a broken arm, two broken shoulders, gashes to the head and bruising of the spleen and brain in the Sunday attack but was expec...

medical

Swedish zoo Kolmarden to put down TB-infected elephants

2002-12-11 - Kolmarden, Sweden.

Two elephants at one of Sweden's largest zoos may have to be put down after one of them tested positive for tuberculosis, health officials said on Wednesday. Three other elephants at the Kolmaarden zoo, located 150km south of Stockholm, have already been put down after succumbing to the disease. The two elephants, Sandai and Donkey, are 17 and 36-years-old respectively.

accident

Pittsburgh Zoo:Elephant barn set to reopen

2002-11-29 - Pittsburgh, United States. David Conti

Visitors to the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium on Saturday will get their first chance to see the elephants since one of the animals killed a trainer earlier this month. Gatti, 46, of Butler, was crushed to death by a 6,200-pound mother elephant called M. on Nov. 18 as he led the animal and its calf on a routine walk around the zoo. The elephant exhibit has been closed since the incident as federal authorities and former elephant manager Theison investigated.

accident

Mike Gatti stands with elephants in a photo taken at the zoo on Saturday. The elephant at right was not the 20-year-old female responsible for Gatti

Elephant kills keeper Mike Gatti at Pittsburgh zoo. 1st human fatality at facility

2002-11-19 - Pittsburgh, United States. Ann Belser and Marylynne Pitz

On mornings when weather permits, elephants at the Pittsburgh Zoo are brought out of their enclosure to walk with their keepers around the grounds. Yesterday, two keepers were about halfway around the zoo with a 20-year-old mother elephant and her 3-year-old female calf when the mother elephant stopped near the Northern Shores Cafe building. When the keeper urged her to move along, the elephant butted him and pinned him to the ground with her head, crushing him. The trainer, Mike Gatti, 46, an e...

accident

Pittsburgh Zoo worker Michael Gatti dies after being pinned by elephant

2002-11-18 - Pittsburgh, United States.

An elephant keeper at the Pittsburgh Zoo died this morning after a 6,200-pound elephant pinned him to the ground, zoo officials announced. An autopsy is scheduled Tuesday on the body of Michael Gatti, 46, of Plank Road, Butler, authorities said. Two zoo keepers were taking the elephant and her calf on a routine walk through the Zoo grounds this morning, when the mother suddenly stopped. Gatti told the elephant to keep moving. But she knocked him to the ground with her head and then pinned him to...

smuggle

New Evidence That Elephant Poaching and the Illegal Ivory Trade is Out of Control. Zimbabwe Loses Over 500 Elephants this Year Amid Renewed Slaughter. French Nationals Implicated in Demand for Ivory

2002-11-04 - Harare, Zimbabwe. Born Free Foundation

The Born Free Foundation, one of the UK's leading wildlife charities, has shocking new evidence that poaching in parts of Africa is soaring, fuelled by the sale of ivory trinkets to French and other tourists.

According to The Daily News (Harare June 17, 2002), the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management claims that, 'between 2000 and April this year (2002)…. 92 elephants had died either as a result of poaching, natural mortality, intraspecific fights or some unknown...

welfare

Reporter"s Notebook: Elephants Heal at Thai "Heaven"

2002-10-17 - Chiang mai, Thailand. Jennifer Hile

Jennifer Hile spent two and a half months in Northern Thailand investigating the plight of domestic elephants and elephant orphans and "Elephant Heaven", a sanctuary for abused elephants founded by Sangduen "Lek" Chailert. Chailert is a well-known Chiang Mai–based activist who runs Jumbo Express, a program bringing free veterinary care to elephants.

smuggle

Illegal ivory trade driven by unregulated domestic markets, identified by new monitoring system

2002-10-04 - Geneva, Switzerland. CITES

Despite a virtually continuous ban on international trade in ivory since 1989, a series of analytical reports from the Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS) has revealed that a significant illegal trade in ivory continues.

research

Sniffing Out Secrets of Elephant Sex. Utah, Oregon Researchers Show How Proteins Help Pachyderms Procreate

2002-09-30 - Salt Lake City, United States. University of Utah

The study began after Prestwich identified proteins involved in the action of insect pheromones. He heard Rasmussen deliver a lecture about elephant pheromone and decided to look for proteins that help the pheromone do its job. Rasmussen collected urine and mucus for the study primarily from 14 elephants at Riddle’s Elephant and Wildlife Sanctuary in Greenbriar, Ark.

misc

Thai Elephant Orchestra

2002-09-11 - Bangkok, Thailand. Prentiss Riddle

BoingBoing links to the website of the allegedly musical Thai Elephant Orchestra and says, "The elephants not only play with the instruments, they play together on them, jamming in what is clearly recognizable as music." Of course, if we accept John Cage's assertion that noise can be music, the question is not whether elephants can play music but whether elephants can play music that shows signs of (non-random) musical thought.

book

Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell

2002-09-10 - Newcastle, Australia. To HTML by Russell Tayler

He was dying, very slowly and in great agony, but in some world remote from me where not even a bullet could damage him further. ... It seemed dreadful to see the great beast lying there, powerless to move and yet powerless to die, and not even to be able to finish him. George Orwell, 1936.

zoo

Free the elephants! Problems plague the Oregon Zoo"s pachyderms

2002-08-28 - Portland, Oregon, United States.

The largest captive land mammal in North America ducks under the doorway. Behind him, a hydraulic steel door wheezes, then slams shut. Packy is isolated, but he is not alone. Outside the cage, attired in work boots and a blue polo shirt, Bob Lee crouches on a stool. Through the steel bars, Packy offers up his foot, and Lee goes to work. He is an elephant pedicurist.

medical

LSD Related Death of an Elephant. Controversy surrounding the 1962 death of an elephant after an injection of LSD

2002-08-16 - Norman, United States. Erowid

In 1962, three men at the University of Oklahoma, lead by the idiosyncratic, CIA-collaborator Louis Jolyon "Jolly" West, injected LSD into an elephant for the first time. Their stated intent was to determine if LSD would induce "musth", a naturally occurring condition in which elephants become violent and uncontrollable. After a series of events, the elephant died. There is some controversy and confusion surrounding the cause of death.

death

Swedish Circus elephant Tuffie dead

2002-07-26 - Århus, Denmark. Roger Malmer, Ole Simonsen

Tuffie died in 2 July during a tour with Circus Benneweis in Denmark. Tuffie, one of Diana Rhodin's two elephants died in 2 July 2002 in Århus, Danmark during the current tour of Danish Circus Benneweis. According to the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten did the lab test show that the cause of death was Samonella poisoning.

conservation

China Plans to Build Asian Elephant Breeding Base

2002-07-19 - Yunnan, China.

The Chinese government will spend 50 million yuan (6.02 million US dollars) on building an Asian elephant breeding center in southwest China's Yunnan Province, to better protect the wild creatures from extinction. China began breeding Asian elephants in 1994 in the zoo at Kunming, capital of Yunnan Province. Six Asian elephants have been born there so far.

medical

Condition of elephant Haji suffering herpesvirus worsens

2002-07-16 - Springfield, Missouri, United States.

The health of an Asian elephant calf infected with a deadly herpesvirus appeared to worsen Tuesday as treatment with an experimental regiment of drugs continued.

Officials at Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield remained hopeful that the nearly 3-year-old elephant calf, named "Haji," would recover from endothelial inclusion body disease, a herpesvirus specific to elephants. It is generally fatal within five days, zoo spokeswoman Melinda Mancuso said.

smuggle

Norway Prime minister Kjell Magne Bondevik unwittingly smuggled ivory from Nigeria

2002-05-30 - OSLO, Norway. Reuters

Norway's Prime Minister unwittingly smuggled two elephant tusks to Norway from Nigeria in violation of an international ban on trade in endangered species, officials said yesterday.

death

Dickerson Park Zoo Mourns Death of Bull Elephant Onyx (Big Mac)

2002-05-23 - Springfield, Missouri, United States. Gigi Allianic, Dickerson Park Zoo

The staff of Dickerson Park Zoo is mourning the death of the bull elephant, “Onyx,” who died Wednesday evening, May 22. Onyx is more familiarly know as “Big Mac” to everyone in southern Missouri. Preliminary necropsy results indicate mesenteric torsion with subsequent intestinal rupture as the cause of death.

welfare

Elephant Arna wins court case

2002-05-17 - Sydney, Australia. AAP

ARNA the elephant will continue her solo journey with the circus, a court has ruled. Magistrate Paul Lyon today ruled against Animal Liberation NSW claims of cruelty to Arna the Asiatic elephant by Stardust Circus. Mr Lyon cut the case short on the grounds there was no deliberate intent to cause pain to the elephant. "There is evidence that the elephant became distressed and suffered pain," Mr Lyon told the Downing Centre Local Court. "But on reading the legislation the court is of the view that...

research

Collaring Elephants

2002-03-20 - Nairobi, Kenya. Iain Douglas-Hamilton, STE

At Save the Elephants (STE) our mission is to secure a future for elephants, sustain the beauty and ecological integrity of the places they live, and foster a tolerant relationship between humans and elephants. We have pioneered a GPS tracking system that allows an almost continual stream of data on elephant movement.

accident

Killed elephant keeper in Chester Zoo "gave warnings"

2002-03-18 - Chester, United Kingdom.

A zoo keeper who was killed by a bad-tempered elephant had warned that such an accident was likely to happen, an inquest has heard.
Richard Hughes, 34, was attacked by a four-ton Asian elephant named Kumara after he tried to move her in her enclosure at Chester Zoo.

smuggle

4,400 elephant ivory jewelry pieces seized

2002-02-15 - Halifax, Canada. Randy Jones / Crime Reporter, Halifax Herald

An Ontario man has been charged in the seizure of almost 4,400 pieces of jewelry made from elephant ivory. The seizure on the Halifax waterfront is Canada's biggest ever involving ivory items. Mohamed Doost, a former German jeweler, is accused of failing to obtain proper permits for transporting from Germany items derived from an endangered species.

smuggle

More than 1,000 elephant tusks seized in Tanzania

2002-01-18 - DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania. Reuters

More than a thousand elephant tusks stolen by poachers have been recovered in the Tanzanian port of Dar es Salaam, police said this week.

Police said two Tanzanians had been arrested late last week following the seizure of 1,255 tusks in two suburban homes, but it was not clear where the tusks had originated.

event

Dasara Elephants arrived in Mysore

2002-01-14 - Mysore, India.

The first batch of five elephants for participating in the Dasara procession, Jamboo Savari, has arrived in Mysore. The elephants led by the chief tusker, Balarama, are undergoing training with daily acclimatization march along the procession route - Palace to Bannimantap Parade Grounds. The 43-year-old Balarama had recently escaped into the forest in Nagarahole forest area after developing 'musth'.

26 Headlines about Elephants from 20022002-12-22 - Vienna, Virginia, United States - King Tusk, Ringling Bros. Asian Elephant Ambassador, Dies at 57 Years of Age 2002-12-17 - Miami, United States - Elephant attacks, injures keeper Michael Embury at Miami zoo 2002-12-17 - Tinsukia, India - Drunk elephants kill six people 2002-12-11 - Kolmarden, Sweden - Swedish zoo Kolmarden to put down TB-infected elephants 2002-11-29 - Pittsburgh, United States - Pittsburgh Zoo:Elephant barn set to reopen 2002-11-19 - Pittsburgh, United States - Elephant kills keeper Mike Gatti at Pittsburgh zoo. 1st human fatality at facility 2002-11-18 - Pittsburgh, United States - Pittsburgh Zoo worker Michael Gatti dies after being pinned by elephant 2002-11-04 - Harare, Zimbabwe - New Evidence That Elephant Poaching and the Illegal Ivory Trade is Out of Control. Zimbabwe Loses Over 500 Elephants this Year Amid Renewed Slaughter. French Nationals Implicated in Demand for Ivory 2002-10-17 - Chiang mai, Thailand - Reporter"s Notebook: Elephants Heal at Thai "Heaven" 2002-10-04 - Geneva, Switzerland - Illegal ivory trade driven by unregulated domestic markets, identified by new monitoring system 2002-09-30 - Salt Lake City, United States - Sniffing Out Secrets of Elephant Sex. Utah, Oregon Researchers Show How Proteins Help Pachyderms Procreate 2002-09-11 - Bangkok, Thailand - Thai Elephant Orchestra 2002-09-10 - Newcastle, Australia - Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell 2002-08-28 - Portland, Oregon, United States - Free the elephants! Problems plague the Oregon Zoo"s pachyderms 2002-08-16 - Norman, United States - LSD Related Death of an Elephant. Controversy surrounding the 1962 death of an elephant after an injection of LSD 2002-07-26 - Århus, Denmark - Swedish Circus elephant Tuffie dead 2002-07-19 - Yunnan, China - China Plans to Build Asian Elephant Breeding Base 2002-07-16 - Springfield, Missouri, United States - Condition of elephant Haji suffering herpesvirus worsens 2002-05-30 - OSLO, Norway - Norway Prime minister Kjell Magne Bondevik unwittingly smuggled ivory from Nigeria 2002-05-23 - Springfield, Missouri, United States - Dickerson Park Zoo Mourns Death of Bull Elephant Onyx (Big Mac) 2002-05-17 - Sydney, Australia - Elephant Arna wins court case 2002-03-20 - Nairobi, Kenya - Collaring Elephants 2002-03-18 - Chester, United Kingdom - Killed elephant keeper in Chester Zoo "gave warnings" 2002-02-15 - Halifax, Canada - 4,400 elephant ivory jewelry pieces seized 2002-01-18 - DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania - More than 1,000 elephant tusks seized in Tanzania 2002-01-14 - Mysore, India - Dasara Elephants arrived in Mysore

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