Misty
Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) at
Tennessee Elephant Sanctuary (TES) in United States

Biography

☨ ♀ Misty

Alternative name:	Mitzi

Identification

SSP nr	295

Description
Species:	Asian elephant (Elephas maximus)
Sex and age:	Female ♀ 52 years old
Status:	confiscated

People killed:	1: 1983 - July 24th - Killed head Game Warden Lee Keaton
Origin
Born:	* 1964 wild
Birth place:	in India unspecified location
Capture:	1965
Imported:	1967 by Gene Holters Movieland Animals (Gene Holter)
Death
Dead:	†2016-04-13
Death reason:	euthanised:
Locations - owners
Present / last location:	Tennessee Elephant Sanctuary (TES), in United States

Date of arrival

2004-11-17	Tennessee Elephant Sanctuary (TES) from Hawthorn Corporation

1988-07-18	Hawthorn Corporation from Sterling & Reid Brothers Circus (Toby Tyler Circus)

1985-00-00	Sterling & Reid Brothers Circus (Toby Tyler Circus) from Lion Country Safari, Inc - Laguna Hills

1983-00-00	Lion Country Safari, Inc - Laguna Hills from Ralph Hefner Animal Ranch

1976-00-00	Ralph Hefner Animal Ranch from Gene Holters Movieland Animals (Gene Holter)

1975-00-00	Gene Holters Movieland Animals (Gene Holter) 1975-00-00 from Charlie Kelton

1971-00-00	Charlie Kelton from Remo & Irene Cristiani

1970-00-00	Remo & Irene Cristiani from Charlie Kelton

1969-00-00	Charlie Kelton from Gene Holters Movieland Animals (Gene Holter)

1967-00-00	Gene Holters Movieland Animals (Gene Holter) from India unspecified location

Record history
History of updates	2025-03-17:

Latest document update	2022-03-26 06:27:24

† Misty is a dead confiscated Female ♀ Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), , who died 2016-04-13 at Tennessee Elephant Sanctuary (TES), in United States, .

Casualties

2 casualties

1983-07: elephant keeper David Wilson attacked by Misty. David Wilson Survived.
1983-07-24: elephant keeper Lee Keaton fatal attack by Misty. broke free from her chains at Lion Country Safari in Irvine, California and turned on game warden Lee Keaton, crushing his Skull and killing him instantly. † Lee Keaton Died 1983-07-24

Origin

Misty was born wild 1964 at India unspecified location, captured 1965 . and imported 1967 by Gene Holters Movieland Animals (Gene Holter)

Comments / pictures

July 24, 1983: Misty, broke free from her chains at Lion Country Safari in Irvine, California and turned on game warden Lee Keaton, crushing his Skull and killing him instantly. (Misty had attacked a handler, David Wilson, just three weeks earlier, who survived.)

(Pawsweb word document)

Previously recorded as two different elephants, merged with nr 12713 on 2022--03-22:

Records about Misty from Bob Cline

MISTY 1964 - Born in India Stud # 295
Female Asian 1967 - imported by Gene Holter
leased to other groups. ( Kelton - Remo Cristiani )
1975 - back to Gene Holter
1976 to 1983 - Ralph Hefner Animal Ranch in Ca.
1983 to 1985 - Lion Country Safari
1983 - July 24th - Killed head Game Warden
1985 to 1988 - Toby Tyler Circus
1988 to 2004 - Hawthorn Circus Corp.
2004 - Elephant Sanctuary in Holenwald, TN. ( Nov. 17, 2004 )
2004 to Present - Elephant Sanctuary
Bob Cline, author of the book "Americas elephants".

Records about Misty from Bob Cline

1969 - Owned By Mr. Kelton in Vermont
1970 - with Remo Cristiani
1971 - Owned By Mr. Kelton in Vermont
Bob Cline, author of the book "Americas elephants".

Reference list

References

Koehl, Dan, (2025). Misty, Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) located at Tennessee Elephant Sanctuary (TES) in United States. Elephant Encyclopedia, available online retrieved 29 March 2025 at https://www.elephant.se/database2.php?elephant_id=1463. (archived at the Wayback machine)

Sources used for this article is among others:

(Pawsweb word document)
http://www.elephants.com/newsStory.php?newsID=1556
Bob Cline, Cheraw, South Carolina, United States. Autor of the book Americas elephants
http://circusnospin.blogspot.com/2012/06/for-radar-denny.html

Litterature about Tennessee Elephant Sanctuary (TES)

Recommended Litterature:

Random literature As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases

Links

Relevant links

Internal relevant links

elephant mankillers, elephants that has killed humans. List of elephant mankillers
More elephants from: Tennessee Elephant Sanctuary (TES)
More elephants from: United States
More elephants that was born: 1964
More elephants that was captured: 1965
More elephants that was imported: 1967
More elephants that died: 2016-04-13
All breeding cows
All breeding bulls
The elephant database startpage. Statistics
List of all captive born elephants in the database

External relevant links (Opens in new window)

Search more on the web for Misty

(The name Misty is already submitted into the link, just click on the link for relevant results)

About this documentWebsite online since 1995. This document was created: . Latest update: 2022-03-26 06:27:24 included characters with valid HTML5