Hannibal
Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) at
Josef Gärtner in Yugoslavia

Biography

☨ ♂ Hannibal

Identification


Description
Species:	Asian elephant (Elephas maximus)
Sex and age:	Male ♂
Status:	musth
Origin
Born:	* wild
Birth place:	in Asia unspecified location
Death
Dead:	†1985-12-24
Death reason:	euthanised: shot by Police officer in Gothenburg
Locations - owners
Present / last location:	Josef Gärtner, in Yugoslavia

Date of arrival

	Josef Gärtner from Circus Carl Busch

Record history
History of updates	2025-03-12:

Latest document update	2022-04-02 08:12:37

† Hannibal is a dead musth Male ♂ Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), , who died 1985-12-24 at Josef Gärtner, in Yugoslavia, . Official death reason described as shot by Police officer in Gothenburg.

Origin

Hannibal was born wild at Asia unspecified location.

Comments / pictures

Euthanized, shot close to Gothenburg, Sweden by Gothenburg Police in 1985 or 1986. The Gärtner family was touring several years with Circus Scott in Sweden. This year Bimbo was cusing more and more problems, due to musth, and he attacked Josef Gärtner several times during the spring and summer. By christmas the control was lost over the bull, and he could net be kept from attacking the other elephants.

Unfortunately, the Boras Zoo could not be reached by telephone, since it was christmas eve, and finally a Police officer with Hunting experience from Africa shot him in the head.

Reference list

References

Koehl, Dan, (2025). Hannibal, Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) located at Josef Gärtner in Yugoslavia. Elephant Encyclopedia, available online retrieved 18 April 2025 at https://www.elephant.se/database2.php?elephant_id=1890. (archived at the Wayback machine)