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Elephant abuse charges filed against Texas man
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The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has filed elephant abuse charges against Wilbur Davenport, an elephant owner and handler in Legget, Texas who used the elephants around the country in circus acts and to give rides to children.
Davenport is charged with at least 15 separate counts of violating the federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA), including failing to provide even minimally adequate veterinary care, failing to handle the elephants safely and humanely, failing to abide by minimal animal welfare guidelines, and abusing and harassing federal officials, reports In Defense of Animals, which sought for two years to rescue elephants in Davenport's possession.
In August, two elephants in Davenport's possession, Tina and Jewel, were taken by federal officials and sent to live at the San Diego Zoo, where they began receiving essential veterinary care.
But federal officials left a third elephant, Queenie, behind.
“Charges against Davenport for his egregious abuse of elephants and violations of federal law are long overdue,” Suzanne Roy, IDA Program Director, said in a statement. “The USDA must now use the full force of the law to get Queenie out of Davenport’s hands to the safety of a sanctuary and ensure that Davenport will not ever abuse another animal.”
The PAWS sanctuary in California, as well as The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee are willing to take and care for Queenie, once she is freed from Davenport.
Queenie's abuse is heartbreaking.
The IDA reports that in March 2007, USDA inspectors documented the continued abuse of Queenie:
"[The elephant has] excessive dead skin over most of her body and doesn’t show evidence of proper bathing for quite some time. She has urine staining and what appears to be urine scalds on her back legs. The pads on this elephant had excessive growth and there were numerous flaps of skin that had trapped debris in them. The cuticles were also excessively long."
Queenie also had "multiple wounds draining yellowish exudates inside the left ear" . . consistent with the improper use of an ankus [bull hook] in the ear."
The handler was "not properly trained or experienced." "[He] had to continuously rely on excessive and inappropriate use of the ankus to get the elephant to perform the behaviors he was asking for during the rides and performances. . . during the rides and performances, the handler was observed repeatedly jabbing and hitting the elephant with the ankus. Several times during the elephant ride, the handler used the ankus to hit the elephant and she reacted by throwing her head and changing her gait demonstrating irritation at the action of the handler. . . This is inappropriate and abusive use of the ankus and such use is likely to cause trauma, behavioral stress, physical harm or unnecessary discomfort . . . " (Emphasis added)."
Click here to learn more about how you can help Queenie.
Watch video of an employee of Davenport's mistreating elephants:
Queenie, then known as "Boo" being mistreated
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