Carol Buckley

Carol Buckley

Carol and Winkie, 2004
Born (1954-05-18) May 18, 1954
Oakland, California
Nationality American
Education Exotic Animal Training & Management Program, 1974 Moorpark College, California
Occupation Elephant Welfare Consultant
Website
Signature

Carol Buckley is a specialist in the trauma recovery and on-going physical care of captive elephants.[1]

From 1974 to the present, Buckley has cared for elephants,[lower-alpha 1] being responsible for them and their relative happiness in captivity. Through her experience with elephants kept in zoos and circuses in the US and abroad, she has become a leading speaker and expert witness for captive elephants.[3][4] She also works with federal, state, and foreign government agencies and with private organizations to create and to strengthen regulations that protect the welfare of elephants kept in captivity.

In 2010, Buckley founded Tennessee-based Elephant Aid International and began consulting worldwide to help improve the lives of captive elephants and their mahouts.[lower-alpha 2]

Work

Elephant taking baby steps, pictured with Buckley 2013

Carol Buckley has been featured in the New York Times Magazine, Parade, Chicago Tribune, People and Readers Digest, and on Oprah, ABC News, 20/20, CBS News, CNN and the Canadian Broadcast Corporation. and other printed and visual media.[11]

Education

While a student at Moorpark College in 1974, Buckley was touched by a tiny baby elephant that a local tire dealer had bought to market his tires.[12] Buckley volunteered to feed and care for the elephant named Fluffy. A year later, Buckley borrowed $25,000, bought Fluffy, changed her name to Tarra, and founded Tarra Productions. By 1980, Buckley had taught Tarra to roller skate.[13] For the next 15 years, Buckley lived with, cared for, trained, transported and performed with Tarra in circuses and zoos in the United States and Canada. Tarra presented an Academy Award during one year.

In 1984 Buckley began to question the life that she had chosen for Tarra. One day, after a roller skating show, a woman approached Buckley and said: "That's abuse. You're abusing your animal by making her skate." Buckley knew Tarra enjoyed skating and was not being abused, but she then realized that she was creating the wrong impression about Tarra and elephants. Buckley did not believe that elephants exist to entertain people; she knew that each elephant's needs must come first.[14] Around that same time, Tarra, then entering her preteens, had been observed swinging her trunk at people when Buckley's back was turned. Recognizing that Tarra was entering another phase in her growth from infant to adult, Buckley eventually stopped Tarra's roller skating act.

Buckley began to search for a better life for Tarra in a variety of zoos and animal parks where she worked and consulted, including African Lion Safari and Bowmanville Zoo in Ontario; the Racine Zoo in Wisconsin; and the Nashville Zoo in Tennessee.[11][15] While Tarra would like each new zoo at first, she would soon be found standing by the enclosing fence swaying back and forth.[16]

Buckley realized that a better life for a captive elephant, a place where elephants could walk and interact with nature, outside of the domination of people did not exist. After musing, analyzing, searching, designing and redesigning barns and land to meet Tarra's needs, Buckley was jolted into action by the horrific death of Tyke in Honolulu, Hawaii in August 1994.[17] Tyke was fatally shot in front of many people after she killed her trainer ans escaped the circus ring. This incident is still used by animal control people who want to convince their city councils not to allow wild animal circuses in their cities.

Elephant sanctuary

Carol and Tarra

In November 1994, Carol Buckley, with a loan from the local bank, bought 112 acres in Hohenwald, Tennessee. Using the savings she and Tarra had acquired, Buckley built a barn for Tarra and co-founded the Elephant Sanctuary (Hohenwald) in Tennessee: The first natural habitat refuge for sick, old and needy elephants.[18] In 1997 Buckley used the money from the sale of her home in Ojai, California. combined with her life savings as collateral, to get a loan to build a second barn to accept more needy elephants.[19] From 1994 to 2009, Buckley used personal funds and collateral to ensure the Sanctuary’s continued growth. Today, the Elephant Sanctuary (Hohenwald) is 2,700 acres (1,100 ha), housing African and Asian elephants in three separate sections with four new barns, enclosed by 20 miles (32 km) of fencing.

While at the Elephant Sanctuary, Buckley developed a non-dominant management system and an holistic healthcare program that supports the recovery of traumatized, injured, and sick elephants while allowing them, as much as possible, to make their own choices.[1][20]

Buckley was personally responsible for rescuing each of the 24 elephants from zoos and circuses that moved to the Sanctuary.

Rescued elephants

Founding Elephant:

Founding Herd:

African elephants:

Asian Elephants:

Elephants confiscated by the USDA:

Buckley coordinated the rescue of the first elephant ever confiscated by the USDA and lobbied to have all of John Cuneo Jr.'s Hawthorn Elephants sent to the Elephant Sanctuary.[38][lower-alpha 15][40] In 2006 Buckley organized the rescue, an effort which had taken over 2 years and enormous focus and determination, of a group of eight female elephants confiscated from the Hawthorn Corporation by the USDA.[41][42] She designed individualized treatment programs to help each of them recover from the physical, psychological and emotional effects of nearly four decades of circus life.[41]

Controversy

In November 2009, Carol was put on administrative leave. The next year she was dismissed. The following year the co-founder of the Elephant Sanctuary left, "by mutual agreement".[43] That year another CEO, and a new Director of Husbandry were hired.[44] Within two years they too left.[45][46]

The Board of Directors changed the basic philosophy from "focus on the emotional needs of the elephants first and foremost, with steel fencing and restraint chutes replacing elephant-caregiver relationships." [47] While Carol has gone on to help captive elephants in the United States, South Asia and Southeast Asia, she has not been allowed to see Tarra since 2010.

Elephant Aid International

In 2010, Buckley founded Elephant Aid International in Hohenwald, Tennessee.[lower-alpha 16]

Carol in Nepal trimming elephants' nails, 2013

Since the founding of EAI, Buckley has spent many months in Nepal, India, Thailand and Sri Lanka consulting on elephant foot care,[48][49] target training and Compassionate Elephant Management (CEM)[50] for elephants and their mahouts,[49] and, the long-range goal of the creation of elephant centers throughout India.[51] October 27, 2011, Carol Buckley has been officially engaged by the Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation Centre (WRRC)[52] to create an Elephant Care and Rehabilitation Center (ECRC) in Karnataka, Bangalore, India.[lower-alpha 17] Buckley will remain on-site to supervise the Center’s development and acquisition of elephants. Once the facility is well established, she will monitor the operations with regular extended visits throughout the year."[54]

Carol teaching mahouts, 2013

"When Buckley arrives in India in January 2012, she says, she will walk the land that has been acquired for the facility, determining where to build fences and working with Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation, a partner organization, to learn how to work with Indian contractors. "I have a very clear vision about fencing, what elephants should be allowed to do, and how much freedom they need to thrive," she says. Other infrastructure that must be built includes shade structures, corral areas for medical attention and training (as well as sleeping), a veterinary lab and administrative office, plus housing for staff. The site already includes a 12-hectare facility that will be adapted for some of these needs."[55]

Selected works

Books

Selected lectures

Scholarly articles

Training videos and other materials

Notes

  1. I recalled our first romp on a pristine beach in Santa Barbara, CA. Tarra was a spunky youngster, small by elephant standards, full of playful energy. It was early morning, the sun was just lighting up the southern California sky and the beach was surprisingly empty. Like kids off on a grand adventure we climbed over the dunes that divided the highway from the beach beyond. Tarra sunk to her knees in the dry sand with each gangly step, leaving cavernous holes in her wake.[2] Tarra enthusiastically ran toward the ocean as the water receded. But when an underdeveloped wave crashed at her feet, she screeched to a halt and back peddled awkwardly. Squeaking gleefully, trunk curled up under her chin, head pulled down low, she got eye level with the wave. As it once again receded, her confidence returned. Ankle-deep in the foamy swirl of sand and salt water, she did not notice the new wave building. It formed quickly, rising like a cobra from the ocean floor and slapped her broad side with a crack. Caught by surprise, Tarra’s eyes flashed wide. She stood frozen for a split second, staring straight at me. I could not help it, I broke up with laughter. Recognizing the mischievous look on her face, I started running down the beach to get the jump on our ever familiar foot race. Tarra came tearing out of the water, running as fast as her stocky legs could drive her, trunk and tail fully extended like a bird dog on point. Our foot race ritual was a bonding exercise. Sometimes I let her win and other times she let me. This time it appeared that she was determined to be the winner. Slowed by the soft sand caressing our ankles, we raced down the beach, neck-in-neck, until she surged forward in a final sprint, leaving me in her dust clinching my sides in laughter. Only then did I notice we were being watched. A uniformed man standing some distance away called out, "Miss, you cannot have an elephant on the beach."[2]
  2. See:[5][6][7][8][9][10]
  3. "Without the heart to turn Barbara away, Buckley welcomed the ailing elephant to the sanctuary that April." Later Carol created "The Save Jenny Trust" to save Jenny. Lota was to be the next elephant to come to the sanctuary (in 2004).[22]
  4. "In the four years since I first met Bunny, I, too, could not forget her...She stood only a few feet from the public viewing area, oblivious to the visitors yelling her name."..."As I leaned up against the exhibit railing I hoped that she might notice me. I thought that if I think hard enough she might sense that I am different from the others; that I have big plans for her." [24]
  5. "Before coming to the Elephant Sanctuary, however Sissy spent a year at the Houston Zoo and then another year at a Zoo in El Paso. Her keepers found her to be antisocial and somewhat aggressive. At one point Sissy was violently abused by her keepers. Their handling of her videotaped for in-house purposes but the film eventually found its way to the media. The video tape showed her handlers hitting Sissy who was tightly chained, repeatedly on the back of her legs with wooden bats and/or ax handles during a violent beating session that lasted several hours. If Sissy did not respond to a given command within a few seconds, the beating began again. Twice she was hit so hard her legs buckled and she fell to the ground."[25]
  6. Upon notice that the City of El Paso wished to send Sissy to The Elephant Sanctuary, Carol Buckley, founder and executive director of the Sanctuary, went to El Paso to meet this notorious elephant. What she found was a severely underweight, depressed animal.[26]
  7. "I would like to thank The Vancouver Sun, reporters Nicholas Read and Glenn Bohn, members of the Vancouver Humane Society, Zoocheck and local television and radio broadcasters for raising the issue of Tina, the elephant, and for mobilizing such strong support for moving her to Carol Buckley's Elephant Sanctuary near Hohenwald, Tenn. Tina is truly a special friend to all who have worked with her, and her leaving will be a bittersweet occasion for all of us. Although I am not an employee of the zoo, I am the current, contracted veterinarian."[29]
  8. "Flora, an African elephant with Circus Flora, grabbed a woman with her trunk as she was dismounting from a ride and threw her against a tree three times. The woman was in a body brace for three months with many broken bones and received $468,000 as settlement of a lawsuit.[30]
  9. "A 6,000-pound (2,700 kg) elephant has smashed a rookie zookeeper against a rock pile at Miami's MetroZoo, badly injuring the man in what a zoo spokesman described as an attack to test dominance in the herd....Flora was retired from a circus in 2001. The Miami zoo was caring for her until a sanctuary in South Carolina could take her in early 2003."[31]
  10. Flora starred in One Lucky Elephant, a documentary film that appeared on OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network as part of the OWN Documentary Club.
  11. "Elephant keepers know that elephants must be gradually conditioned to do activities, such as loading into a truck, but Lota was given no advance conditioning for the move. Consequently, loading her into the truck that would take her to the Hawthorn facility in Illinois was a disaster. Spectators from the local press related accounts of a chaotic situation in which Lota was beaten into a terrified state and finally, after falling onto her head and trunk more than once, was loaded, bleeding from many wounds, defecating, and urinating blood."[32]
  12. "The elephants' friend; Carol Buckley runs a unique sanctuary for Asian elephants – founder of Elephant Sanctuary near Hohenwald, Tennessee – Profile" by Bill Pryor. "If all goes well, Lota will be able to come to the sanctuary and eventually enjoy the life Tarra, Barbara, and Jenny now have: grazing together, climbing in and out of their creek bed, or peacefully napping in the pasture side by side." It took 6 years before Lota was rescued. Retrieved November 4, 2011
  13. "In 1990, zoo officials passed Lota on to the Hawthorn Corporation in Illinois because, like many elephants imprisoned for years, she had become 'aggressive.' On the day she was forced from the only 'home' she had known since infancy, the terrified Lota refused to move and was roped, chained, beaten and dragged from her stall. Witnesses said that blood flowed from the back of the moving truck."[33]
  14. "Delhi was the first elephant confiscation in U.S. history. After an extensive campaign by PETA, the USDA seized Delhi from Hawthorn Corporation and transferred her to The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee after determining that she was in imminent danger from lack of veterinary care. Delhi had been suffering from abscesses, lesions, osteomyelitis, and severe chemical burns to her feet. "[36]
  15. "Carol Buckley, the sanctuary's executive director, said she never imagined that the first confiscation would result in stripping Cuneo of his other 16 elephants. 'Nothing like this has happened before,' she said. 'The animal welfare laws here are weak to begin with, and at no other time has USDA actually enforced their laws like this. . . . Clearly, these actions will force elephant owners to be more careful about how they treat their animals.' Although pleased that Cuneo will lose his elephants, Buckley said she is concerned that the USDA will not be able to find new homes for the elephants because at least two of them have tuberculosis. 'Cuneo has made a lot of money on the backs of these animals, and now he's getting rid of them when they're less and less useful to him,' she said. 'Because there is TB in the herd, it's going to be very difficult to find homes for them individually or in some groups. We think they need to remain together as a herd, and that's going to be very hard to do."[34][39]
  16. "Asia is primed for change but, for now, local leaders are unclear how to proceed," said EAI President and CEO Carol Buckley. "New legislation in India that bans elephants in circuses and zoos, coupled with the requests that EAI has received to assist with educating mahouts in Thailand and Nepal, provides us the opportunity to directly influence the welfare of elephants." "Not only will EAI help elephants in need," she added, "the care centers we develop will be a model for a country struggling to develop solutions for its elephant welfare problems."[8]
  17. "...the Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre (WRRC), a sister organization of CUPA dedicated to the welfare of wild animals"..."Menaka's gradual adjustment to a nearly natural life has given CUPA the impetus to negotiate with the government for a rescue/care center for elephants in our state of Karnataka. At such a center, some elephants from the zoos could also be admitted for care and rehabilitation. CUPA hopes their vision soon translates into reality. It would serve as a demonstration project for all of India."[53]
  18. Paul Waldau, director of the Center for Animals and Public Policy and assistant professor of environmental and population health at the Cummings School, hosted elephant experts from all over the world at the "Symposium on Captive Elephants: Science and Well-Being" April 18–19. The papers presented at the symposium will now be revised and published in book form...."[63]

References

  1. 1 2 "The Kerulos Center- People".
  2. 1 2 "Elevisions". Elevisions.
  3. Video on YouTube, VoiceForTheAnimals, January 20, 2009. "Dr Joyce and Carol Buckley speaking on Herpes". Retrieved November 4, 2011
  4. http://www.kerulos.org/about_kerulos/faculty.html#buckley,"Carol Buckley". . Retrieved October 11, 2011.
  5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on August 23, 2011. Retrieved November 6, 2011.
  6. "Culture shock News: Carol Buckley – Co-Founder of the Elephant Sanctuary Introduces International Elephant Aid and www.CarolBuckley.com and Heads to Asia for Worldwide Elephant Assistance". Free Press Release.
  7. "Begging Street Elephants Remain A Problem". Thailand Forum.
  8. 1 2 "Elephant Aid Internation – Newly Launched NGO – Green Chi Cafe".
  9. "Foot Care Report, Thailand". May 1, 2011. Retrieved October 13, 2011.
  10. "Foot Care Report, Nepal", April 12, 2011. Retrieved October 13, 2011.
  11. 1 2 "Elephant Aid International : Carol Buckley".
  12. http://www.americanwaymag.com/tarra-carol-buckley-tennessee-scott-blais-author
  13. "Tarra the Roller Skating Elephant". Ojai History.
  14. "Where the elephants roam". tribunedigital-chicagotribune.
  15. "Sanctuary: The Tarra Story".
  16. http://www.lhj.com/relationships/family/pets/the-way-god-made-them-a-womans-plight-to-save-the-elephant-she-loves
  17. 1 2 "Honolulu Star-Bulletin Hawaii News".
  18. "For elephants, acres to roam A Tennessee refuge awaits Phila. transplant". philly-archives.
  19. Video on YouTube
  20. Failure Magazine LLC. "Elephant Sanctuary – Hohenwald Tennessee – Failure magazine -".
  21. Video on YouTube
  22. "FindArticles.com – CBSi".
  23. 1 2 "SHIRLEY -Ele-beacon of Hope From the Louisiana Purchase Gardens and Zoo to The Elephant Sanctuary". Retrieved November 3, 2011.
  24. "AFTER FOUR YEARS OF HOPING, BUNNY IS HERE! A PERSONAL ACCOUNT OF BUNNY", by Carol Buckley, Trunklines, November 1999. Retrieved November 3, 2011.
  25. "Separated From Her Mother and Family".
  26. "The Elephant Sanctuary : Hohenwald Tennessee".
  27. "Dangerous".
  28. "Winkie's Adopter Comes To Madison".
  29. "The Elephant Sanctuary : Hohenwald Tennessee".
  30. http://www.mediapeta.com/peta/pdf/Elephant-Incident-List-US-only.pdf
  31. "Elephant attacks zookeeper – From Animals in Print 24 December 2002 Issue – A Newsletter concerned with: advances, alerts, animal, animals, attitude, attitudes, beef, cat, cats, chicken, chickens, compassion, consciousness, cows, cruelty, dairy, dog, dogs, ecology, education, egg,".
  32. "FROM ZOO TO CIRCUS: THE STORY OF LOTA". Retrieved November 6, 2011.
  33. "It an Elephant Life".
  34. 1 2 "USDA Seizes Circus Elephants; Decree Under Animal Welfare Act Settles Charges of Improper Care".
  35. "U.S. confiscates ailing elephant". tribunedigital-chicagotribune.
  36. "RIP, Delhi the Elephant". PETA.
  37. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on November 20, 2011. Retrieved November 4, 2011.
  38. "A cruel jungle tale in Richmond". tribunedigital-chicagotribune.
  39. "Washington Post: Breaking News, World, US, DC News & Analysis". Washington Post.
  40. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals Hawthorn Corporation Factsheet – Page 1 of 11 – Updated September 8, 2011 Hawthorn Corporation (Cuneo, John), Summary of each failure to meet minimal federal standards for the care of animals
  41. 1 2 http://www.kerulos.org/about_kerulos/faculty.html#buckley Retrieved October 11, 2011.
  42. "Elephants Find Paradise in Tennessee".
  43. "The Elephant Sanctuary : Hohenwald Tennessee".
  44. "The Elephant Sanctuary : Hohenwald Tennessee".
  45. "The Elephant Sanctuary : Hohenwald Tennessee".
  46. Steve Smith | LinkedIn
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  48. "O Yim, Where Art Tou?". Elephant Dreaming.
  49. 1 2 BLES – Boon Lott’s Elephant Sanctuary. "Katherine's Journal – Elephant Sanctuary – Boon Lott's Elephant Sanctuary in Thailand – BLES".
  50. "Elephant Aid International : One World...One Elephant at a Time".
  51. "Elephants to be banished from all zoos". The Times of India.
  52. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on November 2, 2011. Retrieved November 4, 2011.
  53. "Help Animals India – Help Animals India".
  54. "Elephant Aid International : One World...One Elephant at a Time".
  55. John R. Platt. "Unchained: Indian Elephant Rehab Center to Be a Model for Rescued Zoo Animals". Scientific American Blog Network.
  56. James Ritchie. "Fact or Fiction?: Elephants Never Forget". Scientific American.
  57. p.9. Retrieved October 11, 2011.
  58. 1 2 3 4 "Carol Buckley".
  59. http://www.elephantmanagers.com/EMA%20catalog%20through%202008.pdf, p.17. Retrieved 2011-10-11.
  60. "Association of Zoos and Aquariums".
  61. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on April 20, 2012. Retrieved October 28, 2011.
  62. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on October 30, 2011. Retrieved October 28, 2011.
  63. "Tufts Journal: People: June Notes".
  64. Waldau, Paul. Animal Rights: What Everyone Needs to Know. Oxford University Press, 2011, pp. 182–183.
  65. Retrieved October 13, 2011.
  66. Video on YouTube Retrieved November 12, 2011.
  67. Video on YouTube, Uploaded by ElephantAidIntl, November 14, 2011, Retrieved November 15, 2011.

External links

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