My friends Mike and Heather recently moved to Florida so he could take a job with a zoo (he's an animal caretaker) and he was trampled by an elephant on Sunday night!

He had surgery yesterday and it looks like he'll be in the hospital for about a month. Poor guy. I feel so bad.

Thank God, though, that the elephant who attacked him won't be destroyed.


Posted on Tue, Dec. 17, 2002

Elephant that attacked, hurt handler won't be destroyed
BY ELAINE DE VALLE, TIM HENDERSON AND LISA ARTHUR
edevalle@herald.com




'NOTHING HAPPENS': Flora, the retired 6,000-pound star of a traveling circus that is at Metrozoo only temporarily, will not be euthanized, isolated or treated any differently. RAUL RUBIERA/Herald Staff


While a critically injured zookeeper needed help from a ventilator to breathe on Monday, Flora the elephant socialized, ate umbrella tree leaves and rested in the shade at Miami Metrozoo where she had attacked her handler a day earlier, oblivious to the controversy she had sparked over how the zoo treats elephants.

Flora, the retired 6,000-pound star of a traveling circus that is at Metrozoo only temporarily, will not be euthanized, isolated or treated any differently because of the attack, zoo officials said.

''Nothing happens to the elephant. The elephant was simply being an elephant,'' said Ron Magill, zoo spokesman. ``This is not something that should reflect badly on her.''

Ted Friend, professor of animal science at Texas A&M University, agreed that the incident did not justify destroying the elephant.

''If the animal doesn't have a record of this kind of behavior, you would just figure out how to adjust its training,'' he said.

Some animal activists, however, think the incident reflects badly on humans.

The Pompano Beach-based Animal Rights Foundation of Florida called for Metrozoo to phase out its elephant exhibit and transfer the elephants to accredited sanctuaries, such as The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals urged the zoo to switch to a system that puts a safety barrier between the animals and their keepers and eliminates nearly all hands-on contact.

During the routine 3 p.m. feeding Sunday, as another handler talked to about 50 zoo visitors about the elephants, Flora abruptly pushed Mike Embury to the ground and kicked him like a soccer ball 15 feet into some boulders, knocking him unconscious.

Embury, 31, was still in critical condition at Jackson Memorial Hospital on Monday. He had two broken shoulders, a broken arm, a damaged spleen and a bruised brain. Magill said Embury -- who had joined the zoo staff Oct. 2, was on a ventilator to help him breathe and could be hospitalized for up to a month.

The handler's status as the ''new kid on the block'' may have contributed to the attack, Magill said. Elephant keepers have the most dangerous job at he zoo, he said, and must become part of the elephant family to handle the beasts. Elephants are matriarchal animals that form a ranking order or hierarchy and Flora may have been challenging Embury.

''Elephants are usually really docile and well adjusted,'' Friend said. ``But some really bond to their specific trainer. I can't say what happened in this situation, but a new trainer just by the virtue of being new could confuse an animal.''

Flora came to the zoo in February 2001, after more than 15 years as the star of a traveling show named after her: Circus Flora. Ivor David Balding, the owner of Circus Arts Foundation of Missouri, said he rescued her in 1983 from Zimbabwe where she was a starving 2-year-old, having been orphaned by poachers.

Balding said it was out of character for her to be aggressive. ``She's always been a good elephant. She has a sense of humor and she was mischievous when she was younger, but as she grew older I think she got bored of show business and I decided she should be in a more natural setting with other elephants as companions.''

He also hoped Flora would mate at the zoo and become pregnant; she has not.

Metrozoo is only a temporary stop until Balding can raise the money to build the Ahali African Elephant Sanctuary in Camden, S.C.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission -- which visits the zoo periodically to monitor the health and maintenance of the animals -- began to investigate the incident Monday, said James Huffstodt, agency supervisor. He hoped to have a report by Friday, he said.

PETA urged the zoo to start a ''protected contact system of elephant management'' that eliminates nearly all physical contact between the animals and humans.

''Miami Metrozoo uses a cruel, outdated circus-style form of elephant management that is both dangerous to keepers and inhumane to the elephants,'' wrote Debbie Leahy, PETA's director of captive animals, in a letter faxed to Metrozoo director Eric Stephens.

Leahy says more than half the zoos in the country have adopted the ''protected contact'' method. One that hasn't is the Pittsburgh Zoo, where a handler was crushed to death by another 3-ton female African elephant less than a month ago.

''Apart from eliminating elephants in captivity altogether, these incidents could have been prevented if both zoos had switched to the more progressive protected contact system, which eliminates the routine beatings, bullhooks and chains that cause elephants to snap under the strain of confinement and abuse,'' Leahy says.

Stephens said no determination would be made until after the zoo general curator returns from a trip Friday.

Herald researcher Elisabeth Donovan contributed to this report.

Elephants should not be kept in captivity. They are intelligent, social individuals who go nuts if kept captive for their entire (long) lives. When they must be, it should be in a sanctuary, not in a zoo or circus. And when they must be in a zoo, they should be handled as PETA recommends, to prevent harm to both the elephant and the human.

I do hope your friend recovers fully. Poor guy, most have been terrified.

Doves,
Mel!ssa
[This message was edited Tue Dec 17 10:12:56 PST 2002 by tackam]

I am sorry to hear that applekisses.

tackam said:

I agree with you. It's an sad situation for all involved.

Wow, I thought this was a joke at first.

Sorry to hear it's not apples...

How horrible!

Good thoughts comin your way apples...

teller said:

Thanks hon I'll pass them on to my friends.

CarrieLee said:

A lot of people did when I told them. It's just so freaky I was in shock for most of the day yesterday.
This is the guy who taught me how to swing dance!

I'm sorry to hear that, Apples... Yet relieved to hear that at least he will still have his life to lead...((whew))...

wellbeyond said:

Thanks
Yes, thank God he will be able to live his life. I just pray that he doesn't have any lasting injuries. He has a hearing imparment and I just hope that the hearing imparment combined with a permanent injury from this accident wouldn't prevent him from continuing on with his career. He just finshed school for this about a year ago and it's his dream.

Well that's kind of unfortunate, but somewhat poetic.If only it was a paying customer at the zoo, that'd be even better.

Elephants belong on the plains of Africa or trampling villagers in India, not living an undignified existance for our 'amusement'.

Thecherryloon said:

Exactly.

I meant 'villages' not 'villagers' before anyone mentions or brings that up.


Typos!

.
[This message was edited Tue Dec 17 12:53:23 PST 2002 by Thecherryloon]

Thecherryloon said:

Well, yes, fucker, in a utopia that would apply. But this is my friend that you are talking about and he is YOUR AGE and on a VENTILATOR because he can't BREATHE. He has two broken shoulders, a damaged spleen, a bruised brain, broken ribs and a broken arm!
He nearly DIED. So, take your so-called poetic justice and shove it up your ass. You're a sick fuck and I hope for the sake of human kind you don't reproduce.
[This message was edited Tue Dec 17 13:12:59 PST 2002 by applekisses]
[This message was edited Tue Dec 17 13:16:28 PST 2002 by applekisses]

Cloudbuster said:

Very creative of you.

The one thing to note here is that we shouldn't be insensitive to AppleKisses, as her FRIEND was injured very badly here.

Can we please try to be at least a little sensitive to her feelings on this one?

Whoa! :-/ sorry to hear that applekisses.

IceNine said:

thank you
[This message was edited Tue Dec 17 13:10:18 PST 2002 by applekisses]

applekisses said:

me? sick? no dear, i speak the truth as and how i see fit.It would be all too easy for me to falsely type how sorry i am about your friend, but i don't know the man, and if i feel more strongly about the thousands of wild animals cruelly kept in captivity, why does that make me a sick fuck?.

Just an honest one.

Thecherryloon said:

Well, you don't know that elephant either, right? You SICK FUCK and don't call me dear, asshole.
Not to mention, how 'sympathetic' can you be toward ANY living creature with this type of attitude?
[This message was edited Tue Dec 17 13:23:48 PST 2002 by applekisses]

applekisses said:

No offence to you applekisses, i just don't agree with animals being kept in captivity. A tragedy of the kind that happened to your friend is a result of frustration.

Cloudbuster said:

Well, I don't agree with animals being kept in captivity either, actually. But, no one bothered to ask me that. However, I DO have the sense and the humanity to FEEL badly when something TRAGIC happens to someone as a result of such an accident.
My friend thought he was doing something good for the animals by taking this job. HE isn't the one who put the animals there in the first place.

sorry to read the bad news, i hope your friend has a full and speedy recovery...and the elephant is fine as well. today on the news i saw that a herd of elephants in India drank a stash of liquor and killed 6 people or something...this is no joke it was on CNN.

God bless, kim--
[This message was edited Tue Dec 17 13:23:03 PST 2002 by kimrachell]

Cloudbuster said:

precisely.Perhaps Applekisses should do some research on the lives elephants lead in the wild and understands why shit like that happens before she gets all emotive about a different kind of response to what she expected.Messageboards aren't all about kissing ass an agreeing all the time.

for the record, i hope her friend makes a full recovery and continues to work with animals in some capacity other than an in the so-called 'entertainment' industry of zoos.

Thecherryloon said:

I'm right here, motherfucker, you need not speak about me in the third person. Or, are you UNABLE to address me directly?

applekisses said:

you are? couldn't see you.and here i was thinking you were a bunch of words on a screen.besides, i wasn't responding to your post anyway

Any more pearls of wisdom you want to share with me?

swear at me some more!

Thecherryloon said:

Pearls of wisdom?? Well, thank you (that is if you're responding to me and not the voices in your head) and, I will swear at you some more...

fuck
bastard
ass pirate
twat
cunt

...how's that?
[This message was edited Tue Dec 17 13:46:27 PST 2002 by applekisses]

applekisses said:

fine.sent you an orgnote.

Ok, I would like all animal rights activists to look at thecherryloon's response here as an example of how to make people hate us.

It wasn't this guy's fault that the elephant was in captivity. He and the elephant are both victims of the situation. The difference is, the elephant wasn't physically injured, and wasn't the point of the thread.

Geez. I'm sorry, applekisses, that you got a response like that. Not all animal advocates are like that.

Doves,
Mel!ssa

tackam said:

Thank you Melissa.
I know that all animal advocates are not like that bastard -- I'm an animal advocate myself . I see it the same as you -- the elephant (her name is Flora ) and my friend were BOTH victims of a system that doesn't work and at best creates suffering for so many involved.
I don't understand why thecherryloon was so horrible -- I didn't say 'YEAH AND THEY SHOULD KILL THAT ELEPHANT'
I don't believe that at all -- a life is a life and should be respected and protected.
Also, the elephants in this particular zoo were rescued from a circus and are there just until a company finishes building an elephant sanctuary in Tennesee.
[This message was edited Wed Dec 18 9:57:06 PST 2002 by applekisses]