# Tusko

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Not to be confused with [Tusko (Oregon Zoo)](/source/Tusko_(Oregon_Zoo)).

For other uses, see [Tusko (disambiguation)](/source/Tusko_(disambiguation)).

**Tusko**, formerly known as "Ned", was a giant circus [elephant](/source/Elephant) captured at age 6 in Siam (now [Thailand](/source/Thailand)).[1][2] He stood just five feet high when he was unloaded from a sailing ship at [New York Harbor](/source/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](/source/Al_G._Barnes_Circus) and became its main attraction.[1] He was renamed Tusko. The [tusks](/source/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](/source/Jumbo). Nonetheless, Tusko was a ton heavier than Jumbo and the largest elephant in [North America](/source/North_America) since Jumbo. On May 14, 1922, Tusko escaped in [Sedro-Woolley, Washington](/source/Sedro-Woolley,_Washington), and caused $20,000 in damage.[1][4]

[John Ringling](/source/John_Ringling) bought the circus and sold Tusko to Al Painter, who worked for the [Lotus Isle](/source/Lotus_Isle) amusement park in [Portland, Oregon](/source/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] 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](/source/Seattle) Mayor [John F. Dore](/source/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](/source/Woodland_Park_Zoo), dying of a [blood clot](/source/Thrombosis) on June 10, 1933.[6]

## See also

- [List of individual elephants](/source/List_of_individual_elephants)
- [Tusko](/source/Oklahoma_City_Zoo_and_Botanical_Garden#Famous_animals), an Indian elephant in Oklahoma who was subject to the world's largest LSD dose and subsequently killed.

## References

1. Capi Lynn (August 29, 2017). ["The time Tusko the elephant was abandoned at the Oregon State Fair"](https://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/2017/08/25/tusko-elephant-abandoned-oregon-state-fair-salem-portland-seattle/595886001/). *[Statesman Journal](/source/Statesman_Journal)*

1. [HistoryLink Tusko the elephant rampages through Sedro-Woolley on May 15, 1922](http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=5270). Historylink.org. Retrieved on 2021-06-13.

1. ["Lotus Isle Amusement Park"](http://www.pdxhistory.com/html/lotus_isle.html). *PdxHistory.com*

1. ["Elephant on Rampage— He Leaves Thirty-Mile Trail of Destruction in Washington State"](https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1922/05/18/103208887.html?pageNumber=12), *The New York Times*, May 18, 1922, p. 12

1. Reflections, McKenzie River. ["Oregon's most famous elephant led a colorful and tragic life"](https://www.mckenzieriverreflectionsnewspaper.com/story/2021/07/01/history/oregons-most-famous-elephant-led-a-colorful-and-tragic-life/3747.html). *McKenzie River Reflections*. Retrieved 2025-01-07.

1. ["Death Takes Tusko, Big Elephant That Lived Stormy Life"](https://web.archive.org/web/20121104063907/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/474766192.html?dids=474766192:474766192&FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:AI&type=historic&date=Jun+11,+1933&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=DEATH+TAKES+TUSKO,+BIG+ELEPHANT+THAT+LIVED+STORMY+LIFE&pqatl=google). *[Chicago Tribune](/source/Chicago_Tribune)*. June 11, 1933. Archived from [the original](https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/474766192.html?dids=474766192:474766192&FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:AI&type=historic&date=Jun+11,+1933&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=DEATH+TAKES+TUSKO,+BIG+ELEPHANT+THAT+LIVED+STORMY+LIFE&pqatl=google) on November 4, 2012. Retrieved 2010-10-16.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Tusko](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tusko) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tusko?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.