In 1950, Ellen was born in Asia. She was still just a baby when she was torn from her family in the wild. In 1954, she was sent to the Little Rock Zoo in Arkansas, where she has languished behind bars for 46 years. In 1977, the conditions of Ellen’s imprisonment changed drastically—and she has suffered in solitary confinement ever since.

We've contacted zoo officials about retiring Ellen—please support our efforts by writing: Mr. Michael Blakey, Director, Jonesboro Dr. Little Rock, AR 72205, Mblakely@littlerock.state.ar.us Please also write to the mayor and City Board: Mayor jim Dailey and City Board Members, City Hall, Rm. 203, 500 W. MarkemSt., Little Rock, AR 72201

Ready for Retirement
Visit the Little Rock Zoo’s Web site, and you might not even realize that the facility has an elephant on display. The site lists “cool zoo facts” about anteaters, rhinos, and other animals but makes no mention of Ellen. Apparently, the zoo doesn’t count on elderly Ellen to draw the crowds brought in by the baby giraffe and other “crowd pleasers.”

Tools of the Trade
Three bullhooks hang outside Ellen’s enclosure, grim reminders of the zoo’s “training” methods.




“...the hardship imposed on a lone elephant in a zoo or circus is monstrous, equivalent to sentencing an individual to solitary confinement for life.” —Shana Alexander, The Astonishing Elephant

Your Letters Saved Helen In 1954, Helen was born. Forty-six years later, Helen can barely walk. She’s severely disabled from years of being chained and performing grueling, unnatural tricks, which aggravated her knee injury. Three veterinarians, noting that Helen’s disability is a chronic, degenerative condition causing pain-related lameness, recommended that she be retired. But Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros. Circus refused. Beatty-Cole worked another elephant named Petunia until her death—despite her severe joint disease. PETA launched a letter-writing campaign to U.S. Department of Agriculture officials urging them to have mercy on Helen and retire her before it was too late. Five months later, Helen was released to a restful haven where she will never be forced to work again.

Beatings Under the Big Top The bullhook (ankus) is routinely used to punish and control elephants. The handle is made of wood, metal, plastic, or fiberglass, and there is a sharp steel hook at one end. A trainer uses the hook to dig into sensitive spots on an elephant’s body, causing the elephant to move away from the pain. Or holding the hooked end, the trainer swings the handle like a baseball bat to strike the elephant on the ankles and other areas where there is little tissue between skin and bone. Trainers also use baseball bats, ax handles, pitchforks, and even electric shocks. Elephants’ skin appears tough, but it is actually so delicate that they can even feel an insect bite. Trainers often embed the bullhook into the soft tissue behind the ears, inside the mouth, in and around the anus, under the chin, and around the feet. Within hours of being punctured by a bullhook, a welt or boil may erupt, sometimes becoming infected. These sensitive spots where tissue is soft or there is little flesh between skin and bone are targeted for bullhook beatings. Signs of Abuse San Jose, California, humane inspectors found that seven Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus elephants “had injuries behind or on the back of their left ears” that appeared to be fresh and bleeding. USDA inspectors found and described wounds on Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros. Circus elephants: “Helen and Bessie both have several ... ankus scars ... Two [other] elephants had obvious hook mark wounds on their rear legs.” They Aren’t Volunteers The tricks that elephants are forced to perform are uncomfortable and frightening and can be dangerous. They perform under threat of punishment. In the ring, an elephant responds to commands from a trainer carrying a bullhook because the elephant has been conditioned in behind-the-scenes beatings to know what that weapon means. Right before entering the ring, trainers may give elephants a few painful whacks to remind them who’s “boss.” Elephant trainers George “Slim” Lewis and Byron Fish wrote: “It is absolutely essential ... that the animal must have ... respect for its handler; and to get down to blunt facts, this quality begins with fear: fear of punishment and discomfort.” Not Illegal...Yet Federal law does not prohibit bullhook use, but some local U.S. communities do. Pompano Beach, Florida, recently banned bullhooks by categorizing them as devices “likely to cause physical injury, torment or pain and suffering to animals.” Start a campaign to amend the animal laws in your community by adding language that forbids the use of bullhooks and other devices intended to cause pain. Write to PETA for an animal-display ban pack.