Elephant locations in United States

951 locations has kept elephants in United States

There is presently 373 (86,285) living elephants in locations in United States in this database

United States
Region: United States is in this database included in northamerica
Location holdings: 951 locations has kept 1909 elephants in United States

(Database tables with collection of elephants further down on the page)
Elephants in locations373 (86,285) living 1536 (333,1133) dead

The first captive elephants in U.S.A.


1. Buffon, imported 1795 by captain Jacob Crowninshield.
2, 3 and 4. Old Bet imported 1804, Betty (Little Bet), and Columbus (first elephant male in America), both imported 1817, all those three elephants were owned by Hachaliah Bailey,
5. Horatio imported 1819 (died 1820). (second elephant male in America),
6. Tippoo Sultan (Tippoo Saib) imported 1821,
7. Hannibal 1824.
8. Flora imported 1827
9. Timour (Mogul II)
10 and 11. Hyder Ali, and his mother imported 1830
12, 13, 14 and 15 Columbus II (Mogul?), Caroline, Juliet, and Helen McGregor 1831 (died 1832).
16 and 17. Romeo, Runjet Singh 1832.
18 and 19.Siam, Virginius (Gold Button) 1833.
20 and 21 Basil and Pizarro 1834.

1835: The Zoological Institute absorbed all the menageries in the country - there were sixteen extant in 1834, and ended the first phase of individual management.
1837: While the economic panic of 1837 just two years later all but wiped out The Zoological Institute, the organization formalized the menagerie business, which eventually became the modern circus, and thus the Articles of Association document is arguably the “birth certificate” of the American circus.

In the next 100 years, there was a large number of import of elephants to Circuses and Zoos in North America. The first Zoo in USA, Philadelphia Zoo, displayed the first elephant in an American Zoo, at the opening in 1874.

From 1875 the import from Firma Hagenbeck and Firma Reiche to the Zoos and the apr. 55 US circuses, rocketed as the owners competed with large collections. Carl Hagenbeck claimed in a letter to Ringling that he exported abt 100 elephants to USA between 1875 and 1882, most of them to Adam Forepaugh and P. T. Barnum. After the last Reiche brother died in 1887, Carl Hagenbeck almost monopolized the trade, until 1907, when the Firma Ruhe became a preferred trader to zoos, who started to view Hagenbecks Tierpark, founded 1907 in Hamburg.Stellingen as competition.
,
1933: An elephant census in USA was performed in 1933: Karl Knecht recorded 194 elephants traveling with circuses, carnivals, vaudeville troupes, fairs etc. Another 80 were in zoos. There was not one African with a circus and only 5 in zoos.

In the 1990s, the number of circuses in America dropped from 125 in 1900 to 20 in 1997.

Sources claim there were 284 elephants in 79 accredited U.S. zoos, according to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums that accredited totally 217 zoos in USA.

2018: A census for the United States and Canada claimed 236 Asians and 195 African elephants in the human care population and was published in February 2019 in The Elephant Managers Associations publication Gray Matters.

Zoos that have eliminated elephant exhibits since 2000:

Zoos in the midst of eliminating elephant exhibits:

Recommended Citation

Koehl, Dan, Facts about elephants in United States. Elephant Encyclopedia, (2025) available online retrieved 2025-03-28 at https://www.elephant.se/country.php?name=United States.
(archived at the Wayback machine)

Sources, among others

  • Elephants and Egotists by Patricia Sumerling2


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