Miss India
Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) at
Mills Brothers Circus in United States

Biography

☨ ♀ Miss India

Identification


Description
Species:	Asian elephant (Elephas maximus)
Sex and age:	Female ♀
Origin
Born:	* wild
Birth place:
Death
Dead:	†1953-06-29
Death reason:	disease: heart attack
Locations - owners
Present / last location:	Mills Brothers Circus, in United States

Date of arrival

1950-00-00	Mills Brothers Circus from Polack Brothers Circus

	Polack Brothers Circus from Bud E. Anderson Circus

Record history
History of updates	2010-05-12

Latest document update	2020-10-18 06:25:24

† Miss India is a dead Female ♀ Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), , who died 1953-06-29 at Mills Brothers Circus, in United States, . Official death reason described as heart attack.

Origin

Miss India was born wild .

Comments / pictures

Polack purchased from Laura Anderson.

1953-06-29: Died in Wallingford, CT: It is thought “Miss India” died early in the morning because residents of South Cherry Street, according to the story, heard “a great trumpeting at about that time in which all the elephants seemed to have joined in.”

The elephant had made her last performance the night before, and acted normally. But during her afternoon show, “Miss India” kept lying down and behaving unusually.

After it was found that the elephant had died, there was the issue of what to do with the carcass. The Meriden Record reported that a circus attendant stayed behind to make arrangements. Police in town began calling rendering plants in New Haven and Bridgeport “to see if the carcass could be turned into tallow.”

The Peabody Museum in New Haven was also contacted, but had inadequate staff to handle the elephant. “Finally, it was decided to bury her where she fell,” just east of the hangars at the old airport property, about 25 Feet from South Cherry Street, according to the Record.

Reference list

References

Koehl, Dan, (2025). Miss India, Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) located at Mills Brothers Circus in United States. Elephant Encyclopedia, available online retrieved 29 March 2025 at https://www.elephant.se/database2.php?elephant_id=3111. (archived at the Wayback machine)