Raymond Figueroa

From the list of elephant persons Family: Figueroa

☨ Raymond Figueroa
Profession	zoo superintendent
Personal details
Dead	202-12-26 in United States
Country	United States

Locations
Title	zookeeper 1951
Location	at San Antonio Zoo in United States

Title	superintendent -1998
Location	at San Antonio Zoo in United States

Title	elephant head-keeper
Location	at San Antonio Zoo in United States

Biography details

Raymond Figueroa , zoo superintendent in United States

Born ? dead 202-12-26 in United States .

1951: In 1951, Raymond Figueroa was a strapping 17-year-old looking for a job at a San Antonio lumber yard. They weren’t hiring. Someone suggested he try the zoo. By 1 p.m. that day, the athletic teenager had landed a job in maintenance at the San Antonio Zoo. He would go on to become chief trainer and supervisor of mammals and a beloved fixture known to generations of visitors as The Elephant Man.

Generations of zoo visitors might remember Figueroa as the elephant handler who helped people onto their saddles and led them around the exhibit space when animal rides were still an accepted practice.

1998: Figueroa retired in 1998.

In 2016, Figueroa returned to the zoo for a surprise reunion with Keith Hodges, a former zookeeper who had been diagnosed with lung Cancer, and their beloved pachyderm, Lucky, who was then 56.

2202-12-26: Figueroa died Saturday at 86. Friends say he succumbed to COVID-19 after a stay at a rehabilitation center following hip surgery. Figueroa is survived by his wife of 36 years, Sheila; brothers Robert and Gilbert; sisters Mary Rose, Diana, Elizabeth and Denise; and five children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Reference list

References

Koehl, Dan, (2025). superintendent Raymond Figueroa in United States. Elephant Encyclopedia, available online retrieved 29 March 2025 at https://www.elephant.se/person.php?id=3361. (archived at the Wayback machine)

Sources used for this article is among others:

https://www.newstimes.com/news/local/article/Beloved-Elephant-Man-a-fixture-at-San-15836576.php

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