Hawthorn Elephants Headed for Freedom!

April 2007 UPDATE: Last Two Hawthorn Elephants, Nicholas and Gypsy, Moved to PAWS Sanctuary

On April 2, 2007, Nicholas and Gypsy, the last two elephants to leave the Hawthorn barn, arrived at the PAWS sanctuary in Galt, California. They immediately took to their new habitat and its adobe clay (which makes a wonderful mud at bath time). PAWS reports that "Nicholas' favorite foods are oranges, grapefruits, and lemons, while Gypsy prefers mangoes, artichokes, turnips, and eggplant." After their quarantine, they will move to PAWS’ 2,300-acre sanctuary in San Andreas, California, where five other Asian elephants and four African elephants now reside.

Read a PETA staffer's eyewitness account of conditions at Hawthorn and of the plight of its elephant Sue.

Although Hawthorn no longer has elephants, the company still leases its tigers and lion to circuses, including the Shrine Circus.

February 2, 2006, UPDATE: Minnie, Lottie, Queenie, and Liz Safe at Sanctuary; Four More to Follow

In October, after extensive negotiations, Hawthorn Corporation finally agreed to donate nine of 12 remaining elephants to The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee. The largest single rescue of elephants in United States history, four elephants have already made the journey. Lottie and Minnie were the first to be moved, followed by Liz and Queenie. Debbie, Ronnie, Billie, and Frieda will follow. Sue, a 40-year-old Asian elephant, never fully recovered from being tranquilized for a blood draw prior to the move and, despite intensive treatment, died on December 30.

As part of the “Caravan to Freedom,” the elephants are traveling in a special chain-free trailer donated by UPS. With all the circus travel and trauma now behind them, these elephants can focus on just being elephants and enjoying the acres of grass, forest, and ponds at the sanctuary.

JUNE 21, 2005 UPDATE: Judge Dismisses PETA’s Motion for Restraining Order

A federal judge denied legal standing to PETA for a motion to block the transfer of four elephants from the Hawthorn Corporation to a Carson & Barnes Circus facility in Hugo, Oklahoma, as well as a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which approved the deal.

Judge Paul L. Friedman of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that animal protection groups (in this case, PETA) have no legal standing to intervene in the transfer—even to prevent elephants from being passed from one admitted violator to a circus with a history of beating elephants with bullhooks and shocking them with electric prods. However, the judge did note that video footage depicting Carson & Barnes Animal Care Director Tim Frisco viciously attacking elephants was troubling and depicts conduct that violates the Animal Welfare Act. Frisco still works for the circus.

What You Can Do

• Urge the USDA to send the elephants to The Elephant Sanctuary instead of to a cruel circus and to implement its consent decision by revoking Hawthorn’s license to exhibit animals.
• Urge Oklahoma officials to deny import of the Hawthorn elephants in order to protect the state’s wildlife and residents.

JUNE 2005 UPDATE: PETA Files Restraining Order to Halt Transfer

PETA has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and a motion for a temporary restraining order with the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., in order to block the transfer of four elephants from the Hawthorn Corporation to a Carson & Barnes Circus facility in Hugo, Oklahoma.

"Golden Girl" Rue McClanahan has joined PETA's battle to send the Hawthorn elephants to a sanctuary. The honorary PETA director has fired off a letter to Oklahoma state representative Raymond McCarter, urging him to introduce an emergency resolution against the importation into Oklahoma of elephants who have been exposed to tuberculosis—a highly contagious disease that poses a risk to the public and to other captive elephants.

MAY 2005 UPDATE: PETA has learned that at least three of the 12 elephants with the Hawthorn Corporation will be sent to the Carson & Barnes Circus “Endangered Ark Foundation.” Instead of finding a permanent reprieve from the abusive circus industry at a sanctuary, these elephants will continue to suffer in a circus, where beatings and extreme confinement are routine.

Carson & Barnes has a lengthy history of animal abuse and neglect and has been cited numerous times by the USDA for failure to provide veterinary care. Carson & Barnes paid $400 for mishandling elephants in violation of the AWA as a result of a video in which Tim Frisco, the circus’s animal care director, was caught on tape viciously attacking and shocking terrified elephants. Frisco instructs other trainers to hurt the elephants until they scream and to sink a sharp, metal bullhook into their flesh and twist it. Frisco also cautions that the beatings must be concealed from the public.

FEBRUARY 2005 UPDATE: Lota Succumbs to Tuberculosis
Tragically, on February 9, 2005, just when Lota and Misty were settling into a peaceful existence at The Elephant Sanctuary, Lota passed away. She had been at the sanctuary for less than three months when she succumbed to the tuberculosis that plagued her for years, irreparably scarring her lungs and reducing her lung capacity. Before her death, Lota had only a taste of the freedom that the Hawthorn Corporation cruelly and deliberately denied her for years. At the sanctuary, Lota was attended to by veterinarians from across the country and monitored around the clock. She was given painkillers and received oxygen to keep her comfortable. In the early morning hours of February 9, after receiving oxygen for the final time, Lota laid down and died with Misty at her side. Initial necropsy findings support the diagnosis that Lota died of an advanced case of tuberculosis. As long as there are elephants in circuses, sad stories like Lota’s will continue.

Unfortunately, there are 12 elephants just like Lota and Misty still languishing at Hawthorn’s compound in Richmond, Illinois. The August 15, 2004, deadline to move these 12 elephants to USDA-approved facilities is still on hold. Learn how you can help.

NOVEMBER 2004 UPDATE: Lota and Misty Rescued
After years of abuse, deprivation, and illness at the hands of the Hawthorn Corporation, Lota and Misty arrived at The Elephant Sanctuary on Wednesday, November 17. Lota is emaciated, 4,000 pounds underweight, and may be suffering from a urinary tract infection. Both elephants are in desperate need of foot care and are suffering from tuberculosis.

Their arrival marks the end of a long battle between PETA, the USDA, and Hawthorn President John Cuneo and a happy new beginning for Lota and Misty. At the sanctuary, Lota and Misty will finally experience the peace, respect, nurturing, and expert veterinary care they urgently need. Lota and Misty will never again experience the harsh discipline of a bullhook ripping through their skin, the boredom and loneliness of long hours shackled inside a circus trailer, or the indignity of performing silly tricks in a circus ring.

They will be housed in a special quarantine facility at the sanctuary during their treatment.

Click here to watch live video of Lota and Misty settling into life at the sanctuary.

MARCH 2004 UPDATE: Elephant Abuser Admits Guilt, Relinquishes Animals to Settle Federal Charges
According to a March 12, 2004, consent decision, John Cuneo, president of the Hawthorn Corporation, admitted to 19 violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act in order to settle charges filed by the USDA in April 2003. Cuneo has been ordered to relinquish custody of 16 elephants to USDA-approved facilities and to pay a $200,000 fine. Read PETA's news release.

Lota the Elephant in Peril
Lota, an Asian elephant, was captured in the wild as a baby and taken to the Milwaukee Zoo in 1954, where she spent the next 36 years. Lota’s life changed dramatically for the worse in 1990. Despite a public outcry opposing the transaction, the zoo gave her to John Cuneo’s Hawthorn Corporation. Hawthorn trains elephants and tigers and leases them to circuses. Lota was badly beaten just to load her onto the truck that transported her to Hawthorn in northern Illinois. Her life has been filled with nothing but misery ever since. Cuneo violated an agreement not to use Lota in circuses, and she was soon trained to perform tricks and subjected to a depressing life on the road. In Cuneo’s hands, Lota became sick and emaciated from a human strain of tuberculosis.

In June 2001, Hawthorn was cited for failure to provide adequate veterinary care to Lota who was “excessively thin, with a protruding spine and hip bones.” In May 2002, a veterinarian found Lota was still hundreds of pounds underweight.

Now 51 and deteriorating, Lota desperately needs to live out her life in a place where she would have free access to hundreds of acres of natural habitat, a superior diet of live vegetation, a choice of companions, and the benefit of elephant veterinarians from across the country. The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee has offered to provide Lota with just such an environment.

On April 9, 2003, the USDA filed charges against Hawthorn for a lengthy list of alleged Animal Welfare Act violations that include using physical abuse to train, handle, and work an elephant, causing physical harm and discomfort, failing to provide veterinary care to an emaciated elephant (Lota), an elephant’s suffering with severe chemical burns and a bacterial infection, several elephants with potentially deadly foot problems, and unsafe public contact. Click here for a detailed summary of USDA charges.

Hawthorn has a long history of abusing and neglecting animals. Last October, a Hawthorn elephant handler was convicted of cruelty in Norfolk, Virginia, for beating an elephant bloody. In 1998, Hawthorn was fined $60,000 and its license was suspended for 45 days in a settlement with the USDA in response to charges that Cuneo’s company mistreated elephants after two of his elephants died of a human strain of tuberculosis. And in 1996, Hawthorn paid a $12,500 penalty to settle USDA charges of causing trauma and harm and of jeopardizing public safety after its elephant Tyke was shot to death by Honolulu police when she rampaged and killed her trainer.

Prior punitive actions have not worked to bring Hawthorn into compliance with the minimal standards of care established in the Animal Welfare Act. Given Hawthorn’s chronic and flagrant disregard for humane laws, please urge the USDA to pursue aggressive prosecution of this case, to permanently revoke Hawthorn’s exhibitor license, and to immediately confiscate Hawthorn’s elephants, including Lota, and its big cats:

The Honorable Ann M. Veneman
Secretary of Agriculture
U.S. Department of Agriculture
1400 Independence Ave. S.W., Rm. 200-A
Washington, DC 20250
202-720-6314 (fax)

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