Bathia_Mapes: I wonder if the elephant's behavior is due to her spending all those years as a circus animal. Circus animals are often mistreated by their handlers and grow to distrust humans. Not that I can blame them if they've been systematically abused by the very people who are supposed to take care of them.

That and the article mentions it is the lone elephant at the zoo. They're animals that really do need to socialize. Poor thing's been alone for four years there, after being in a circus? Sad.

"The 39-year-old retired to the zoo four years ago after spending most of her life with Whirling Brothers Circus. "

Karma.

Circus animals are kept in tiny cages, then chained up until performance time, then shoved back into a cage and shipped to the next town. A horrible life, especially for an animal as intelligent and sensitive as an elephant that's used to living on miles of land with it's entire family.

SpaceyCat: Working with animals that are much bigger and stronger than you can lead to this sort of thing. Hell, just getting a foot stepped on by a horse is bad (thank you steel toed boots! needed a new pair, but they protected my foot). I don't even want to consider working with the poisonous ones or larger predators. Startle one of those and you're pretty much done.

AZA accredited institutions are generally very careful about what enclosures zookeepers go into with animals present. Some allow them in with cheetahs for instance, but only after the cheetahs and keepers have passed certain training milestones. But cheetahs predator prey instinct usually only kicks in for fast moving things. You'll hardly ever see keepers go into a cougar enclosure when they're present since they qualify anything as breathing as edible.

Working with animals that are much bigger and stronger than you can lead to this sort of thing. Hell, just getting a foot stepped on by a horse is bad (thank you steel toed boots! needed a new pair, but they protected my foot). I don't even want to consider working with the poisonous ones or larger predators. Startle one of those and you're pretty much done.

/wanted for questioning.
//"He never forgets...to kill!"

Bathia_Mapes: SpaceyCat: Working with animals that are much bigger and stronger than you can lead to this sort of thing. Hell, just getting a foot stepped on by a horse is bad (thank you steel toed boots! needed a new pair, but they protected my foot). I don't even want to consider working with the poisonous ones or larger predators. Startle one of those and you're pretty much done.

I wonder if the elephant's behavior is due to her spending all those years as a circus animal. Circus animals are often mistreated by their handlers and grow to distrust humans. Not that I can blame them if they've been systematically abused by the very people who are supposed to take care of them.

I can understand that, but do elephants neutralize perceived threats by sitting on them?

SpaceyCat: Working with animals that are much bigger and stronger than you can lead to this sort of thing. Hell, just getting a foot stepped on by a horse is bad (thank you steel toed boots! needed a new pair, but they protected my foot). I don't even want to consider working with the poisonous ones or larger predators. Startle one of those and you're pretty much done.

I wonder if the elephant's behavior is due to her spending all those years as a circus animal. Circus animals are often mistreated by their handlers and grow to distrust humans. Not that I can blame them if they've been systematically abused by the very people who are supposed to take care of them.

Not saying this isn't tragic, but the zookeepers I've met that work with certain animals accept death on the job as a possibility. Reason #1852 I'm glad my wife is no longer a zookeeper.