Tyke (c. 1973 – August 20, 1994) was a female African bush elephant from Mozambique who performed with Circus International of Honolulu, Hawaii. On August 20, 1994, during a performance at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center, she killed her trainer, Allen Campbell, and seriously injured her groomer, Dallas Beckwith. Tyke then ran from the arena and through the streets of the Kakaʻako central business district for more than thirty minutes. Unable to calm the elephant, local police opened fire on the animal, who collapsed from the wounds and died. While the majority of the attack in the arena was recorded on home video by several spectators, additional professional video footage captured the attack on local publicist Steve Hirano and the shooting of Tyke herself (both of which took place outside of the arena).
Background A circus elephant going out of control of their circus was not unprecedented. On February 1, 1992, at the Great American Circus in Palm Bay, Florida, a female elephant, known as Janet or Janet Kelly (born 1965), went out of control while giving a ride to a mother, her two children and three other children. The elephant stampeded through the circus grounds outside before being shot to death by police. According to Tyrone Taylor, the elephant's responsible trainer at the time, Tyke had been involved in three incidents prior to the attack of August 1994: On April 21, 1993, Tyke escaped through the front doors of the Jaffa Shrine Center in Altoona, Pennsylvania, during a performance, remaining untethered for an hour. The rampage caused more than $14,000 in damage. An affidavit obtained from a circus worker by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) the following day stated that Tyke had also attacked a tiger trainer while the circus was in Altoona. On July 23, 1993, Tyke rampaged for twenty-three minutes at the North Dakota State Fair in Minot, North Dakota, injuring handler Michael Pursley and frightening onlookers. According to USDA and Canadian law enforcement documents, while a Hawthorn elephant named Tyke (possibly the same Tyke involved in the four aforementioned incidents), was performing with Tarzan Zerbini Circus, a handler by the name of John Caudill "was observed beating the single-tusk African elephant in public to the point [where] the elephant was screaming and bending down on three legs to avoid being hit. Even when the handler walked by the elephant after this, the elephant screamed and veered away, demonstrating fear from his presence."
Final rampage and death
On August 20, 1994, during a performance at Circus International in Honolulu, Hawaii, Tyke trampled and critically injured her groomer, Dallas Beckwith, throwing him around numerous times in the process. Her trainer, Allen Campbell, attempted to rescue Beckwith and was subsequently knocked to the ground, dragged and crushed to death under the elephant's massive trunk. Miraculously Beckwith only suffered from a broken nose. Scared and aggravated, Tyke then charged out of the arena and outside, encountering publicist Steve Hirano, who tried to stop her from escaping from the circus parking lot. He closed the gates before she could run out, but as he attempted to lock them, Tyke shoved them back open before he could secure the chain, knocking Hirano to the ground, injuring his ankle in the process. A nearby police officer witnessed the rampage and fired multiple shots in the direction of Tyke, distracting her and causing her to flee away from Hirano before she could crush him. After a half-hour of chasing Tyke down, two local policemen fired 86 to 87 shots at the 8,000 lb (3,600 kg) elephant. Riddled with bullets, Tyke finally collapsed, bled profusely and died of blood loss from the gunshots.
Aftermath Following the Hawaii accident, Tyke became a symbol of circus tragedies and of animal rights. Lawsuits were filed against the City of Honolulu, the State of Hawaii, Circus International, Tyke's owner John Cuneo Jr. and Cuneo's company, Hawthorn Corporation. Honolulu lawyer William Fenton Sink sued Cuneo on behalf of numerous plaintiffs, including young children, who suffered psychological trauma after witnessing the initial rampage and the death of the elephant. While the lawsuits were settled out of court, the details of the monetary decision were kept sealed from publication. In honor of Sink's work in the Tyke case, Animal Rights Hawaii changed the name of its "Order of the Innocent Award" to the "William Fenton Sink Award for Defense of Animals." Campbell's autopsy revealed that he died from severe internal injuries, including major skull and chest fractures. The incident inspired legislation on local levels in Hawaii and abroad. California Congressman Sam Farr introduced legislation (HR2323) into the House of Representatives in 1999 and again in 2012.
Legacy
In subsequent years, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), claimed that although the Animal Welfare Act of 1966 does not permit any sort of punishment that puts the animals in discomfort, trainers still break this law and use such instruments as cattle prods and bullhooks in their treatment of animals. According to PETA, during an undercover investigation of Carson & Barnes Circus, video footage was captured showing animal care director Tim Frisco training endangered Asian elephants with cattle prods and instructing other trainers to "beat the elephants with a bullhook as hard as they can and sink the sharp metal hook into the elephant's flesh and twist it until they scream in pain." Later research indicated that wild animals were unsuited to the circus environment. One Dutch investigation into the welfare of circus animals in 2008 found issues like:
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