Former Circus Elephant Kills Founder of Controversial Rehab Center

The founder of Hope Elephants, a rehab center in Maine that provides medical care for retired or injured circus elephants, has been crushed to death by one of his elephants. In response to the news, Melissa Gates, Founding Director of Animal Rights Maine, a local group that worked with national animal advocacy organizations to try to block the 2011 opening of this “inhumane” and “unsafe” facility, stated:

“This tragedy could easily have been avoided if authorities had heeded the countless warnings from elephant experts prior to green lighting this facility. These elephants deserve to live out their lives at a true sanctuary, with healthy herds that satiate their emotional needs, enough room to thrive, and in a climate conducive to their needs.”

Jim Laurita, founder of Hope Elephants

Elephants are intelligent and socially sophisticated animals who are deprived of virtually everything that comes naturally to them in captivity. In circuses, they are beaten into submission with bull hooks; confined for up to 100 hours at a time in box cars; and forced to perform tricks in exchange for food. Maybe the elephant who crushed Mr. Laurita suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after 40 years in circus captivity. And maybe she would not have killed someone had she been retired to an actual sanctuary in a moderate climate instead of a small, zoolike enclosure in the cold state of Maine. Ms. Gates from Animal Rights Maine says that her group will advocate to relocate Hope’s elephants to a sanctuary.