A Blog designed for discussion of topics related to, but not limited to, Circus, Zoos, Animal Training, and Animal Welfare/Husbandry. Sometimes opening up the dialog is the best starting point of all. And if for nothing else when people who agree and don't agree, get together and start discussing it, it will open up a lot of peoples minds. Debate and discussion even amongst themselves opens a window where there wasn't one before.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Penny Garden City Zoo/Lee Richardson Zoo, Garden City Kansas Year Unknown
Wade has a knack for posting pictures of elephants whose history falls under that 'Studbook Mysteries' category. The North American Regional Studbook for the Asian Elephant lists two 'Penny' elephants at the zoo in Garden City, Kansas.
The first Penny was acquired in 1948 by the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs from animal importer Henry Trefflich (confirmed by a 1952 Billboard elephant census). Two contradicting dates exist for her arrival to Garden City. The Studbook states she was transferred to Kansas in 1953; the zoo's website narrating their history states 1956. Her death is listed in the studbook as June 1956.
The second Penny is listed in the studbook arriving from the Carson & Barnes Circus circa 1970. No further information is given and she is listed as "Lost to Follow-up." This second Penny did not previously exist in the database. I have now added her with records to match the studbook.
My assumption is the elephant pictured in Wade's collection is the Oklahoma circus' Penny. She looks much older than the ten year old animal that reportedly died in 1956. I note the scar on her left rear flank that I have seen on other elephants. Is this from a rope during training for a lay-down?
Radar, Not a knack, just a pot load that I have acquired over the years, and post when it seems right. I don't see a scar, but I would expect if there was one from a rope as you suggest, during training, that it would be on the right flank instead of the left. Unless you were training the elephant to lay down both directions, and not the standard direction to the left. Wade
Wade has a knack for posting pictures of elephants whose history falls under that 'Studbook Mysteries' category. The North American Regional Studbook for the Asian Elephant lists two 'Penny' elephants at the zoo in Garden City, Kansas.
ReplyDeleteThe first Penny was acquired in 1948 by the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs from animal importer Henry Trefflich (confirmed by a 1952 Billboard elephant census). Two contradicting dates exist for her arrival to Garden City. The Studbook states she was transferred to Kansas in 1953; the zoo's website narrating their history states 1956. Her death is listed in the studbook as June 1956.
The second Penny is listed in the studbook arriving from the Carson & Barnes Circus circa 1970. No further information is given and she is listed as "Lost to Follow-up." This second Penny did not previously exist in the database. I have now added her with records to match the studbook.
My assumption is the elephant pictured in Wade's collection is the Oklahoma circus' Penny. She looks much older than the ten year old animal that reportedly died in 1956. I note the scar on her left rear flank that I have seen on other elephants. Is this from a rope during training for a lay-down?
Radar,
ReplyDeleteNot a knack, just a pot load that I have acquired over the years, and post when it seems right.
I don't see a scar, but I would expect if there was one from a rope as you suggest, during training, that it would be on the right flank instead of the left. Unless you were training the elephant to lay down both directions, and not the standard direction to the left.
Wade