Cristiani Elephants

, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. Richard...Today at reception following "Circus" mass at St Martha's here in Sarasota ran into Karen Cristinani and when I asked about her old herd of three, she told me that one still lived on her farm and was a fat and happy 72. Could that be one of the oldest elephants in America?...Paul Paul - - I doubt Karen's elephant is 72. The oldest so far recorded was old Gentry Babe who lived some 66 years. I have never heard of an elephant reaching 70 in captivity either here or elsewhere. The problem is that the exact date of arrival is often cloudy. An animal may go through several owners and a subsequent one may have been given bad info about the date of arrival. And sometimes a predecessor elephant has its age added to the one on hand. Three of Karen's elephants wound up at Wild Adventures in Valdosta, GA. One of them died but I saw the other two last summer, together with an old retiree from Beatty-Cole. The have a nice comfortable compound in which to live out their years. Let's see what Buckles says. Richard These elephants were imported in 1947 by Big Bob Stevens for his Bailey Bros. Circus and trained by Mac MacDonald "Christy", "Carrie", "Babe" and "Shirley". The first two were named after Stevens' wife and sister in law, the last one "Shirley" named after his daughter. The picture above was taken in 1949 when the Robbins Bros. title was used and my dad was in charge of them. They were sold to the Cristianis the following winter. I'm sure they all await us in heaven but the elephant in question "Emma" (named for the matriarch of the Cristiani family) was not imported until 1955 which would place her now in her upper 50's Buckles