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© History Oasis
From ancient warfare to modern entertainment, elephants have suffered horrific deaths through execution, starvation, exposure, disease, and violence. These are the most famous elephants who ended with a grim fate.
Surus was Hannibal's favorite elephant. He was possibly the last surviving war elephant from the legendary Alps crossing.He carried Hannibal through treacherous marshes, where the general contracted an infection that blinded him in one eye. Of the 37 elephants that began the journey, most died from exposure, starvation, and brutal mountain conditions.
One thousand five hundred spectators watched in horror as Topsy the elephant was executed in 1903 by a combination of poisoning, electrocution, and strangulation. She was first fed carrots laced with 460 grams of potassium cyanide, then electrocuted with 6,600 volts while wearing copper-clad sandals. The execution was filmed by Edison Studios and released as "Electrocuting an Elephant." She was then strangled by a noose to ensure she was dead.
Jumbo was struck by an unscheduled freight train in 1885 while loaded onto his circus car. His skull was crushed beyond recognition. During his autopsy, his stomach contained English coins, keys, rivets, and a police whistle that spectators had fed him over the years. His trainer, Matthew Scott, knelt beside him, crying and holding his trunk until he died.
The elephant Mary killed her trainer, Red Eldridge, in 1916 because he poked her with a bull hook. She was then hanged from a 100-ton railroad crane in front of 2,500 spectators, including children. The first chain snapped, sending Mary crashing to the ground and breaking her hip. A second, stronger chain was used to hoist her 10-15 feet off the ground until she died.
Lin Wang was captured by Japanese forces in Burma in 1943 and was forced to serve in the military. Of the original 13 elephants captured, only Lin Wang survived to reach Taiwan in 1947. He spent decades in military service before being donated to Taipei Zoo in 1954. He became the longest-living captive elephant at 86 years. He died of heart-lung failure.
Pope Leo X's beloved white elephant, Hanno, became suddenly ill when he was fed a laxative mixed with gold as "medicine." The treatment killed him in 1516. Martin Luther later criticized the Pope as "indolently catching flies while his pet elephant cavorted before him" instead of addressing church corruption.
Abul Abbas was an Asian elephant and a diplomatic gift from the Caliph of Baghdad to Charlemagne. He was later used in the battle against the Danish. He died of pneumonia at age 40 in 810 AD, likely caused by his regular forced swims in the cold Rhine River.
After years of documented abuse, Tyke the elephant killed his trainer, Allen Campbell, and severely injured groomer Dallas Beckwith during a performance at the Neal Blaisdell Center. She escaped and rampaged through downtown Honolulu for 30 minutes. Police fired about 86 bullets into the 8,000-pound elephant before she collapsed in 1994. Witnesses reported she had "tears" in her eyes when she died.
Black Diamond was an 18,000-pound elephant that had already killed three people before his final rampage in Corsicana in 1929. When he killed former Houston Post Society editor Eva Speed Donohoo by repeatedly trampling her, afterward, his owner, John Ringling, ordered his execution. After refusing cyanide-laced food, Black Diamond was shot 155 times by a firing squad.
Old Bet the elephant was shot to death by religious fanatic Daniel Davis in 1816, who believed it was sinful for poor farmers to spend money on entertainment. She was killed with two musket shots while on tour and had to be buried where she fell due to her massive size. Her owner later dug up her bones and skin to sell for exhibition.
During the 4-month Siege of Paris (1870), the beloved zoo elephants Castor and Pollux were killed with explosive bullets and butchered for food. Their trunks sold for 40 francs per pound as a "delicacy," while other parts went for 14 francs per pound. Restaurant menus featured elephants served in Madeira sauce.
Crowninshield was the first elephant brought to America aboard the ship America from Calcutta in 1796. This two-year-old female spent 26 years as a traveling exhibit before being killed in Rhode Island in 1822. She lived her entire life in captivity, where she was forced to perform for curious Americans who had never seen such a creature.
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