Life in Africa
Tribby was born in Africa in 1979 and for a brief time, lived with her mother, aunts, sisters and brothers in an extended family herd. She enjoyed a carefree life under the protective eyes and ears of her loving family.
She was about the size of the elephants in this photo when humans killed her family and shipped her to the United States to be placed on exhibit in zoos.
Life in the United States
When she arrived in the U.S. in 1981, Tribby was first exhibited at the Pittsburgh Zoo along with Natasha, another African elephant approximately the same age.
Upon arrival at the Pittsburgh Zoo, both Tribby and Natasha were immediately chained and beaten with bullhooks by trainers as part of the "free contact" elephant management method popular with zoos at that time. (Note: although in 2008 over 50 percent of U.S. zoos have phased out this barbaric training method, the Pittsburgh Zoo still uses it on their elephants.)
Tribby learned to obey and endured living as a display object at the zoo but never fully succumbed to her new life of subjugation to humans. In July 1989, when she was about 12 years old, she injured a trainer while he was trying to chain two of her legs together. Tribby kicked zoo trainer Henry Kacprzyk several times, breaking his right leg and causing multiple cuts and bruises.
Elephant "training" expert brought in
Less than a year later in June 1990, Tribby attacked another trainer. Tribby knocked over trainer Ray Bamrick with her head after he ordered her to step on to a large rock so that he could clean around her. Keepers Suellen Kass-Geri and Kathy Robbib immediately began beating Tribby with shovels and bullhooks, and Bamrick got away.
The Pittsburgh Zoo decided to bring in alleged zoo "consultant" Daryl Atkinson to "train" Tribby. According to reports, Atkinson was the original trainer of Tribby when she was first brought to the zoo in 1981.
Pittsburgh Zoo director Barbara Baker did not appear to have great faith that Atkinson could turn things around with Tribby. Before Atkinson even arrived at the Pittsburgh Zoo, Baker stated to a reporter that if Atkinson could not train Tribby, she would be sent to a zoo where there was less contact between the animals and the keepers.
Note: although extensive research did not reveal any information on Atkinson's credentials for training elephants, he has been in the news recently. In February 2008, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) charged Atkinson with keeping a tiger in a substandard cage. It was the 43rd time that the FWC has filed charges against Atkinson since 1993 (including over 20 charges of keeping animals in cages that were too small). The charge was a result of a February 9 incident at Atkinson’s Horseshoe Creek Wildlife Sanctuary in which a volunteer was clawed on the hand and leg by a tiger while cleaning the animals cage. Following the attack, FWC investigators found a tiger in a 13 x 13-foot cage, 11 feet shorter than the required minimum. The cage was also found to be made of chain link that was of insufficient strength. According to an FWC press release, “In addition, investigators found a tiger in an open-air cage, without the roof required…. Also, the cage had a damaged block wall with a hole large enough for the cat to escape.” The FWC is also trying to figure out where several new animals at Horseshore Creek came from (as part of a 2007 plea agreement, Atkinson promised not to acquire new animals).
It will likely never be known what "training" methods Atkinson used on Tribby, but they didn't work. Sometime in late 1990 (the move was not publicly announced), Tribby was shipped to the Miami Metro Zoo. It was later reported that she had attacked another trainer at the Pittsburgh Zoo, crushing his pelvis.
From Pittsburgh to Miami to Cleveland
Not much is known about Tribby's brief stay at the Miami Metro Zoo. She stayed there less than two years, until November 1992, when she was shipped to the Cleveland Zoo. According to reports, the Miami Zoo had been severely damaged by Hurricane Andrew in August 1992, and the roof of the elephant barn was torn off. Miami Zoo officials claimed they were scaling back some of the exhibits, and they decided to get rid of Tribby. Although the Pittsburgh Zoo still officially owned Tribby, Pittsburgh Zoo director Barbara Baker reportedly refused to take Tribby back because the zoo already had two elephants and did not need a third for display. The Pittsburgh Zoo, however, did help to pay part of the trucking costs to move Tribby from Miami to Cleveland.
Upon arrival in Cleveland, Tribby was "quarantined" for 30 days alone in a room, periodically visited by trainers who began teaching her new methods of discipline. During her "quarantine," she attacked one of her trainers, Woody Heabler. Heabler told reporters, "We were working with Tribby, trying to get her to the mode of disclipline we work with the other elephants. She decided she didn't want much to do with that," and she shoved him with her head, trunk, and tusks into a wall. Heabler was out of work for six weeks with injuries including a torn rotator cuff.
Less than two months later, Tiani, a 16-year-old African elephant also living at the Cleveland Zoo, atttacked zoo trainers. According to a zoo employee, "Jim had her on chains, ready to feed her, and when Jim went to move the ball away she lunged at him twice. Mitch went into the indoor exhibit to straighten her out and she lunged at Mitch twice. In the second lunge, Mitch's forehead was struck by her tusk, and he needed six stitches." Zoo officials explained away the attack as "prompted by her confinement during the extreme (cold) weather"
A Mother at 15
In the fall of 1993, zoo trainers suspected Tribby was pregnant. Apparently no one paid Tribby much attention at the Miami Zoo, because although she had been housed with a bull elephant during her stay there, no breeding had been observed.
While chained in her concrete stall in March 1994 at the Cleveland Zoo, Tribby gave birth to a 230-pound female calf. No one at the zoo was around to observe the birth. A night watchman noticed a baby elephant standing in the corner of the stall during his early-morning rounds and notified zoo officials, who came to the zoo to observe the baby.
Zoo officials would later claim that "the mother was very good with the baby but was not putting it at her breast" and that "the baby was searching and searching." Trainers decided to milk Tribby and feed the baby elephant by bottle. Later that day, zoo veterinarians noticed that the baby elephant had a huge hole in her abdominal wall where her intestine was sticking out. She was taken to the zoo's hospital for surgery where she died. Zoo director Steve Taylor told reporters "the cause of death may never be known," and speculated that the elephant could have died from the stress of the operation or the trauma of birth.
Apparently the birth and death of her baby had some effect on Tribby, because Taylor exclaimed that "she was behaving better yesterday than I have ever seen her behave," though she was "a little upset" the next day.
Fun and Games
During her time at the Cleveland Zoo, Tribby, along with Tiani and Simba (the other African elephants sharing the elephant exhibit) was "worked" three times a day. During each "workout," the elephants were forced to do a series of leg lifts, trunk swings, and to walk and turn on command. During a reporter's observation of a "workout" session one day in October 1994, Tiani "misbehaved," and trainer Mitch Zverina "gave her a swift whack on the head with a clublike object." Zverina assured the startled reporter that the whack "didn't hurt Tiani one bit," although the reporter observed that "had the same force been used on Nancy Kerrigan, she now would require the assistance of a walker."
Dead of Unknown Causes at 16
In November 1995, Tribby climbed into the shallow moat surrounding her small exhibit shortly after she was released into the outdoor yard one morning. The moat was the main barrier between the elephants and visitors. It's impossible to know what Tribby was thinking, but perhaps she thought she could escape. A few minutes after she went into the moat, bullhook-wielding keepers immediately surrounded her and forced her back into her exhibit. After climbing out of the moat, Tribby fell to her knees. She got up, but fell again. She fell one more time, and died. It was approximately 10:30 a.m. Later, reminiscing about Tribby's death, trainer Mitch Zverina said, "She let out the most god-awful scream I had ever heard in my life, and collapsed."
Although a necropsy was performed on Tribby, no cause of death was ever established.
Simba died less than one month later. According to zoo officials, Simba was found "semi-conscious" in her stall at 8 a.m. one Sunday morning. She died later that day. A necropsy performed on Simba revealed tumors on her adrenal and thyroid glands. Zoo officials speculated that the tumors could have caused the glands to secrete hormones that could have damaged the heart and circulatory system.
Tiani was moved to the Gladys Porter Zoo in Bowmansville, Texas in April 1996. At this time, we do not have information on what happened to Tiani after her move to Texas, but it is believed she died within a few years of the move.
Sources:
1. "Zoo Keeper Got a Kick out of Edgy Elephant," Seattle Times, August 1, 1989
2. "Teen Elephant to Get Training," Philadelphia Daily News, June 6, 1990
3. "She was Having a Bad Day," Cleveland Plain Dealer, February 5, 1993
4. "Metroparks Zoo's Newborn Elephant Dies," Cleveland Plain Dealer, March 19, 1994
5. Deborah Winston, "Snazzy Wheels Propel Gal Pals on Guided Zoo Tour," Cleveland Plain Dealer, October 25, 1994
6. "Elephant's Death Traced to Blood in Lungs," Cleveland Plain Dealer, November 14, 1995
7. Brian E. Albrecht, "Pachyderms' Pal, Protector, 'Parent' Elephant Handler Plays Several Roles While Taking Care of his 'Girls' at Zoo," Cleveland Plain Dealer, June 21, 2000
