Minnie
Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) at
Moorpark College Exotic Animal Training and Management (EATM) Program in United States

Biography

☨ ♀ Minnie

Alternative name:	Old Minnie

Identification

SSP nr	567

Description
Species:	Asian elephant (Elephas maximus)
Sex and age:	Female ♀
Origin
Born:	* wild
Birth place:
Imported:	1923 by Firma Carl Hagenbeck
Death
Dead:	†1978-07-00
Death reason:	unknown:
Locations - owners
Present / last location:	Moorpark College Exotic Animal Training and Management (EATM) Program, in United States

Date of arrival

1977-00-00	Moorpark College Exotic Animal Training and Management (EATM) Program from Circus Vargas

1973-00-00	Circus Vargas from Gene Holters Movieland Animals (Gene Holter)

1972-00-00	Gene Holters Movieland Animals (Gene Holter) from Inland Zoo and Livestock

1972-00-00	Inland Zoo and Livestock from Tulsa Zoo

1954-00-00	1954-00-00 from Mills Brothers Circus

1951-00-00	Mills Brothers Circus from Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus

1939-00-00	Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus from Al G. Barnes Circus

1933-00-00	Al G. Barnes Circus from Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus

1923-11-10	Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus from Bridgeport Harbor

1923-11-00	Bridgeport Harbor from Port of Hamburg

0000-00-00	Port of Hamburg from Carl Hagenbecks Tierpark (Stellingen)

0000-00-00	Carl Hagenbecks Tierpark (Stellingen) from Port of Hamburg

0000-00-00	Port of Hamburg from Firma Carl Hagenbeck

Record history
History of updates	2007-04-23

Latest document update	2023-08-21 17:47:53

† Minnie is a dead Female ♀ Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), , who died 1978-07-00 at Moorpark College Exotic Animal Training and Management (EATM) Program, in United States, .

Origin

Minnie was born wild . and imported 1923 by Firma Carl Hagenbeck

Comments / pictures

Contradictory records:

Records about Minnie from Bob Cline

The January 30, 1954 edition of Billboard carried an ad placed by The Mills Show offering Minnie for sale for $2500.00 being blind in one eye.

My Research discovered she passed away in Moorpark, CA.
Bob Cline, author of the book "Americas elephants".

Records about Minnie from William "Buckles" Woodcocks Blog at http://www.bucklesw.blogspot.com/
MINNIE
1924-33 Ringling-Barnum Circus
1934-38 Al G. Barnes Circus
1939-50 Ringling-Barnum Circus
1951-53 Mills Bros. Circus
1954-55 Ben Fain......Van Buren, Ark.
1956-..... Mohawk Zoo Tulsa, Okla.
.........- 1972 Gene Holter Ranch
1973-77 Circus Vargas
(As I recall she died at some sort of Veterinary facility north of 1000 Oaks in 1979)

"Minnie" was imported in 1929, she arrived with another small elephant named "Dolly" but for some reason they were never trained for the ring and all they did was walk in spec wearing clown suits as this 1933 picture above shows.
Slivers Madison once told me that he was on the Barnes Show in 1934 when these two arrived and sure enough they knew absolutely nothing and had to be trained from scratch.
At the close of the 1938 season all the Barnes elephants were moved into Sarasota and "Minnie" and "Dolly" found themselves back with the Ringling Show.
In the 40's both survived the Hartford and Cleveland fires as well as the elephant poisonings in Atlanta and in 1948 Hugo Schmitt picked them out to work in the center ring act with his five German elephants.
While in Sarasota the winter of 1949-50 while people were visiting the elephant area, a small child wandered under the guard rail and startled "Dolly" who was dozing, she then kicked out fatally injuring the child. As the result of public outcry, she was shot 3/29/50 and for unknown reasons "Minnie" was sold to the Mills Show in the fall.

William "Buckles" Woodcock

Reference list

References

Koehl, Dan, (2025). Minnie, Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) located at Moorpark College Exotic Animal Training and Management (EATM) Program in United States. Elephant Encyclopedia, available online retrieved 29 March 2025 at https://www.elephant.se/database2.php?elephant_id=2364. (archived at the Wayback machine)