Tyke Elephant Outlaw
Tyke was an African elephant that was born in 1974, and was killed August 20, 1994 in Honolulu, Hawaii at a circus event. Her whole life she was trained to be in the circus. She was beaten when training and chained up for 22 hours a day, and one day she just had enough and went on a rampage. She crushed two people, her Mahout and her trainer, and she injured many others when exiting the circus building and entering the streets of Honolulu. Once police cornered Tyke, she was shot 86 times before she was killed. A man who was sent to pick up the body of the elephant said she had tear stains on her eyes as if she was sad that people were going to the point of killing her. The community of Honolulu tried to get a law passed to prohibit the use of exotic animals in the circus because they are abused constantly, but it didn’t pass. This tragedy has caused an uproar amongst animal activist and soon the world knew the story of Tyke.
Tyke Elephant Outlaw
In the documentary “Tyke Elephant Outlaw”, Tyke was one of many elephants who have been forced to train for the circus her whole life. Tyrone, her trainer for many years felt a special bond between him and the elephant and he knew what she could and couldn’t take. He always knew that she had a rebellious side. Tykes story is a perfect example of why elephant should not be held captive. Elephants need to be able to roam around a big area doing what elephants do. Elephant are wild creatures and just like humans, we all have a limit. You can only take something for so long before you get fed up.
Tyke has been in the circus her whole life, she went through various amounts of training, which contained physical abuse with a bull hook and verbal abuse from the trainers. The trainer Tyrone explains to us in the video that Tyke was always the slowest on purpose and she wouldn’t be in sync with the other elephants and she knew that she was going to be hit with the bull hook so she would always flinch. All of the elephants that were in the circus, they would train two hours a day and for the rest of the 22 hours out of the day they would be chained up in a barn not able to move. Holding these large animal’s captive for such a long period of time each day is very unhealthy for these creatures because they do have to get an excessive amount of exercise each day.
First Incident
Tyrone explained to us in the documentary a horrific event that happened that made him stop using Tyke in performances. On April 21, 1993, a trainer who thought he could control Tyke started shouting her name to get her to come over. Tyrone kept telling him to stop because he knew that Tyke didn’t like it. Soon enough Tyke came running and attacked the man and wouldn’t stop. The man didn’t die but after this accident occurred Tyrone refused to have Tyke preform in shows because he knew that she was going to rebel. He stopped training her right after this incident and told the circus company to stop using her in their performances. They didn’t listen.
Major Incident in Honolulu
July 23, 1993, was the day Tyke was killed. It was a normal day in Honolulu, Hawaii, many people were excited because the circus rarely comes to the island. What they didn’t know is that a giant creature was going to kill his new trainer, injure his groomer and run through the streets of Honolulu and have the creature killed right in front of their eyes. Tyrone told the company to not use Tyke but they said that it was fine and the performance would be perfect. As soon as Tyke came out to perform, she began to trample her trainer. The groomer came out to help and try to get her to stop but she started to trample him as well. After she through them around for a bit, she ran out the door because she knew she was in trouble. She ran through the streets of Honolulu in fear. She couldn’t be stopped and that is why police had to shoot her down before she injured others. She was shot 86 times before she fell to the ground and died.
It was a sad day in Honolulu. Many people were devastated with the death of Tyke and they started a movement trying to get animals prohibited from working in the circus because it is cruel and inhumane. It wasn’t till then many realized that there should be a stop to animals preforming in the circus. The treatment that elephants get when training for these performances and terrifying and watching this documentary made it feel more realistic, and made me realize that elephants in captivity is the worst thing you could do to an animal.