Keepers Struck Elephant More Than 100 Times, Trainer Says

An elephant at the San Diego Wild Animal Park was struck on the head more than 100 times over two days by keepers who used heavy wooden sticks, the senior elephant trainer at the San Diego Zoo said Wednesday.

The elephant, called Dunda, was struck so many times that she “rolled over on her side and moaned,” according to Steve Friedlund, who said he and his staff learned details of the incident from two Wild Animal Park handlers who witnessed and participated in the session.

Friedlund said he believes that the keepers hit the elephant with ax handles.

A spokeswoman for the San Diego Humane Society said the organization is looking into the incident at the request of officials of the San Diego Zoological Society, which operates both the zoo and the wild animal park. The Humane Society of the United States is also investigating.

The incident occurred about Feb. 18, several days after the 18-year-old African elephant was transferred from the zoo, where it had lived most of its life, to the park, near Escondido, where it is to become part of a breeding program.

Handled Properly

Douglas Myers, director of the San Diego Humane Society, said Wednesday that while he has not finished his own investigation, he believes that the transfer and discipline of Dunda were handled properly and professionally.

Myers said statements by Werner Heuschele, the society’s director of research, “were not in context.”

The Times reported Wednesday that Heuschele determined that handlers at the park “lost their tempers” and used “excessive force” in disciplining the elephant after it became agitated and threatened their lives. Attempts to reach Heuschele Wednesday were unsuccessful.

Alan Roocroft, supervisor in charge of elephants at the park, said Wednesday the elephant was struck with “hickory sticks” in addition to the baton-like elephant hooks normally used for discipline. He said the sticks are harder than hooks, but denied that ax handles were used.

“The animal was brought up to the park because she was uncontrollable. . . ,” Roocroft said. “However brutal this may seem to people, this is just a drop in the pond to what happens to them in the wild. . . . You put your emotions on reserve.”

The breeding program is an attempt to do some advance planning for the preservation of elephants before they reach the status of an endangered species. In order for the program to work, the elephants must be controlled, Roocroft said. The elephant “would have been running around like crazy,” if firm discipline had not been administered, he added.

Friedlund said Wednesday that one of the park keepers telephoned him shortly after the incident with an “eyewitness account.”

He said the keeper told him that over a two-day period, six people disciplined the elephant under Roocroft’s instructions. The elephant was “terrified” and was given “no chance to ease into her new environment,” Friedlund said.

“He told me she was stretched out on her knees and elbows. She was tied so close to the floor that she couldn’t move and she couldn’t flee. Every time the animal turned in fear to strike at people they would knock it senseless,” Friedlund said. “She was hit so many times she rolled over on her side and moaned. . . . “

Friedlund said it would take a great number of blows to inflict the injury suffered by Dunda.

“That skin on the skull . . . is extremely thick and durable,” he said. “To crush the skin down like that so that it falls off requires repeated blows.”