Lota’s
life began under the shelter and protection
of her mother and other family members. Two years later everything
changed when Lota was captured and sent to live in a zoo in
India. After being on exhibit for only a few years, Lota was
once again packed up in a small wooden crate, and this time
she was shipped to America. Nothing could be more frightening
for a baby elephant than to be separated
from her mother and family. Lota was surely petrified.
For
36 years Lota lived in the confines of
the Milwaukee County Zoo, chained to
the floor of her barn during the nighttime
hours and the long, cold winter months.
Luckily for Lota she lived with several
other elephants, but eventually this
became a problem. Lota began to bully
one of her cellmates, a behavior which
caused her to be banished from her zoo
home forever. As result of her aggression,
Lota was sold for one dollar to the Hawthorn
Corporation, a company that trains and
rents elephants to circuses. From the
moment the zoo made the deal to sell
Lota, her life was marred by insidious
incidents, one after the other.
On the day of Lota’s departure from
the zoo, she literally fell underneath
the transport trailer when the chains that
were dragging her into the trailer broke.
A horrified crowd watched as Lota struggled
to free herself. Her screams were haunting.
Lota’s nightmare did not end when
she was finally secured inside the trailer.
It had just begun. Once at Hawthorn Corporation,
Lota was broken and trained and rented
out to the Walker Brothers Circus. In the
fall of 1997, Lota was diagnosed with tuberculosis.
It was not until March of 2004 that the
USDA took action to insure that Lota and
the other Hawthorn elephants would be sent
to sanctuaries, where they would finally
receive the care and medical attention
they needed.
On November 17, 2004 after months
of delays, Lota and another elephant
named Misty were transferred to the Elephant
Sanctuary. Both suffered from tuberculosis
requiring that they live in a separate
quarantine facility and receive medical
treatment. After only 2 months and 23
days Lota succumbed to her disease leaving
Misty to deal with the grief of losing
her dear friend.
