Tusko, formerly known as "Ned", was a giant circus elephant captured at age 6 in Siam (now Thailand). [1] [2] He stood just five feet high when he was unloaded from a sailing ship at New York Harbor in 1898. [1]
Originally named Ned, he was part of several circuses in the 1900s, including the Great Syndicate Shows, the Great Eastern Shows, and the M.L. Clark & Sons Combined Shows. [1] In 1921, he was purchased by the Al G. Barnes Circus and became its main attraction. [1] He was renamed Tusko. The tusks which presumably earned him his name were about seven feet long (213 centimeters) at this time. [1] By 1922, he was touted as "The Meanest Elephant" [3] as well as "the largest elephant ever in captivity", though at 10-feet-2-inches tall (3.1 meters), he was seven inches shorter than Jumbo. Nonetheless, Tusko was a ton heavier than Jumbo and the largest elephant in North America since Jumbo. On May 14, 1922, Tusko escaped in Sedro-Woolley, Washington, and caused $20,000 in damage. [1] [4]
John Ringling bought the circus and sold Tusko to Al Painter, who worked for the Lotus Isle amusement park in Portland, Oregon, where he performed as "Tusko the Magnificent". [1] [5] The March 23, 1931, issue of The Oregonian Newspaper reported that an airplane crash at Lotus Isle spooked the animal, causing Tusko to go on a rampage. [3] Painter sold the elephant to T. H. Eslick, one of Lotus Isle's developers. [1] He spent some time in an exhibition road show, accompanied by his keeper and lifelong devotee, young George "Slim" Lewis.[ citation needed ] Eslick later abandoned him at the 1931 Oregon State Fair. [1] By this time, his tusks had been reduced to nubbins. [1]
Tusko changed hands repeatedly, until finally Seattle Mayor John F. Dore, taking pity on his poor condition, had him confiscated from his latest owner on October 8, 1932. [1] Tusko ended his days in the Seattle Zoo, dying of a blood clot on June 10, 1933. [6]