Joanna Burke

From the list of elephant persons Family: Burke

Joanna Burke
Profession private elephant keeper
Personal details
Country United States
Locations
Title elephant keeper 1998-2006
Location at Tennessee Elephant Sanctuary (TES) in United States
Biography details

Joanna Burke , private elephant keeper in United States

Born ? dead 2006-07-21 .

Affiliation with 1 elephants

1: Winkie II (Winky) (fatal attack)

Casualties

1 casualties
  1. 2006-07-21: elephant keeper Joanna Burke fatal attack by Winkie II (Winky). After Scott Blais examination, Joanna moved around to Winkie’s right side to look at her eye, not intending to touch it. Without warning, Winkie spun around and struck Joanna across the chest and face. Joanna fell and Winkie stepped on her, killing her instantly. Joanna Burke † Joanna Burke Died 2006-07-21

1998: Joanna started as an intern at the Sanctuary in August 1998.

2006: In July 21, Winkie killed Joanna Burke, the primary caregiver of elephants at The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee for eight years.

The morning of the accident, Joanna and Scott Blais, one of the Sanctuary’s founding directors, followed their regular morning routine, delivering water and conducting a non-invasive visual examination of each elephant. While examining Winkie, Scott discovered that her right eyelid was very swollen, almost to the point of preventing her from seeing out of that eye. She appeared to have sustained a bug sting or bite during the night, similar to one Tarra had several weeks before. Scott made a close physical examination of Winkie’s eyelid and found it was tender to the touch. After Scott’s examination, Joanna offered Winkie a drink of water. Winkie appeared very calm. Joanna moved around to Winkie’s right side to look at her eye, not intending to touch it. Without warning, Winkie spun around and struck Joanna across the chest and face. Joanna fell and Winkie stepped on her, killing her instantly. Scott tried to intervene and sustained minor injuries. He was taken to Maury Regional Hospital and later released with a fractured fibia.



Reference list

References

Koehl, Dan, (2025). elephant keeper Joanna Burke in United States. Elephant Encyclopedia, available online retrieved 26 March 2025 at https://www.elephant.se/person.php?id=3339. (archived at the Wayback machine)

Sources used for this article is among others:



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Categories elephant keeper | private | Tennessee Elephant Sanctuary (TES) | Burke family | Born ? | Dead 2006 | People from United States


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