From Mark Rosenthal

photo, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. I came across this old photo of Judy (circa early 1960's). Purchased from Brookfield Zoo...she died in 1971 @ LPZoo. Mark From John Goodall "Judy" the Lincoln Park Zoo elephant. Photo posted by Mark Rosenthal on October 18 Judy was brought to the U. S. by the Stone and Murray Circus in 1914 [Alexander C. Jones, proprietor]. She was approximately 4 years old [although some think she was born about 1903]. The following year, she traveled with the J. Augustus Jones Shows [of which there were several titles] until 1930. She then went to the Bedford Zoo in Bedford, MA and was later purchased by John Benson, an animal dealer,in 1934. He sold her to Brookfield Zoo, Brookfield, Illinois the same year. Lincoln Park Zoo's elephant Deed-a-Day also known as Dutchess died in 1924. In 1943 Brookfield Zoo sold Judy to Lincoln Park Zoo (Chicago) for $2,500.00. [information from pages 76 and 77 in the book THE ARK IN THE PARK: The Story of Lincoln Park Zoo by Mark Rosenthal, Carol Tauber and Edward Uhlir published in 2003] Mark is the retired Curator of Large Mammals at Lincoln Park Zoo and a contributor to Buckles blog.] The following excerpts are found on ages 41 - 47 in the book Dr. Fisher's Life on the Ark by Lester E. Fisher, DVM, retired Director of Lincoln Park Zoo. (published in 2005). 'Dr. Fisher was new to the zoo and when being introduced to Judy, the keeper shouted "Get down! Now! The two dropped to the floor and the keeper said - "She coulda killed ya, you know!" Judy was notorious for putting a person between herself and the wall. She would then slowly start leaning toward the wall. If someone didn't know what was happening, she could slowly crush him or her to death. When dealing with Judy, by dropping to the ground, it was possible to crawl out between her legs and avoid being crushed to death. Judy, an Asian, was nearly 3 tons and very set in her ways.' 'Judy's stubborn streak became known early on, most notably during her trip from Brookfield Zoo to Lincoln Park Zoo on July 2, 1943.' 'When loading her into a truck for the 30 mile journey, the springs gave way and Judy backed out, refusing to be loaded.The director of Brookfield Zoo saw a great public relations opportunity and decided to walk her to Lincoln Park Zoo during the night.' Paul Dittambl, a Senior Keeper at LPZ retold his version of the story in 1969. 'On July 2, 1943 we set out to bring Judy, a 44-year old Asian ex-circus performer from Brookfield. We tried to load Judy onto a specially fitted truck. After much coaxing and prodding, we gave up and built a ramp which was padded with soft bales of hay and again she refused. We decided to pull her onto the truck with a 180-ton motor driven winch. At last she was on the truck! She immediately started a kind of jig, which effected the total destruction of stake sidings and slid off the truck on her belly, trotted over to a smaller truck and had it halfway over before we were able to diver her attention and she lumbered off.' 'We compromised. At 7 PM, Judy, with an escort of eight men, a vanguard of police motorcycles and two zoo staff cars, started off at her pace of 5 MPH on our 18 mile journey. When we got to Maywood we 'pulled' into a gas station where Judy drank 60 gallons of water. By 10 PM we had made it to Garfield Park, a scheduled rest and feed stop. Judy ate two quarts of oats, a bale of hay and drank 30 more gallons of water.' 'We left at midnight. By now Judy was pretty tired but plodded on and at 2:30 AM arrived at her new home. She gave a large squeal, rolled over and went to sleep. Her three fellow hoofers had holes in our shoes, blistered feet, and had lost 10 lbs each (Judy had lost 500 lbs).' 'Her keeper was a "bull-man". In those days the concept of managing elephants with a bull-man was the accepted method.It was done that way in zoos and circuses all over the world. Originating with the Indian concept of a mahout - one person, full-time throughout the elephant's life. The concept was good but difficult to manage.When the bull-man became ill, choose to take a vacation or retired, the elephant would not accept anyone else to care for it.' 'Today, the system is much more efficient, manageable and sensible. A team of keepers (many of them women) looks after the elephants' 'At the time of her death, we believed Judy was the oldest elephant in captivity at any zoo.' (Note - Mark Rosenthal's book has Judy's date of death at March 22, 1971 and Dr. Fisher's book has the date of death at May 11, 1988. I believe 1971 is the correct date. I apologize for the length of this article but feel it is an interesting story.).