Circus Krone #1 (From Filipe von Gilsa)

Scan10186, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. "Colonel Joe" When this elephant came to Circus Vargas from the LA Zoo in 1973 he had already been castrated at the Vet School in Davis, Cal. To my knowledge, the first time this had ever been done successfully. At the zoo he was called "Dillinger" so they must have known something. With Vargas he was trained by Wally Ross who re-named him "Colonel" after my dad but later Rex Williams changed it to "Joe" (Joe Metcalf) since he always preferred one syllable names. For some reason, his billing has remained "Colonel Joe", even in Europe. Buckles