By JIM STINGL
of the Journal Sentinel staff
Wednesday, June 23, 2004

A year ago I wrote a column about Lota the elephant, who lists a former address as the Milwaukee County Zoo and a current address at a pachyderm hellhole in Illinois also known as Hawthorn Corp.

Hardly a week goes by that I don’t have a reader ask what’s up with Lota and when she’s getting out of there.

The short answers: She’s still sick and tired. And Aug. 15 if she’s lucky.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture went after Hawthorn president John Cuneo for poor handling of Lota and her fellow circus performers. In March,Cuneosettled the case by agreeing to send all 16 of his elephants to better homes by that August date.

Here’s where you come in. There’s a place called The Elephant Sanctuary inTennesseethat has raised $643,000 but needs to reach $1 million to build a 12,000-square-foot barn as a permanent home for Lota and some of her pals. She’d have 1,300 acres to wander with no sign of sword swallowers or trapeze artists anywhere around.

I’m not here to tell you how to allocate your charitable dollars, and you don’t need to explain to me if you’d rather give toward alleviating suffering within our own species.

Having said that, the number for donations to the sanctuary is (931) 796-6500, extension 26, and the address is The Elephant Sanctuary,P.O. Box 393,Hohenwald,TN38462.

"If Lota doesn’t end up coming to our facility, they get their money back," saidCarol Buckley, executive director.

It’s not written in stone yet that Lota will go there, although Buckley has recent letters from the USDA andCuneo’s lawyer saying she should. USDA spokesman Jim Rogers said the government can’t tellCuneowhere the elephants must go, only where they can’t go.

Lota is said to have tuberculosis, so she would be in quarantine for a while and receive extensive treatment. Yes, a million bucks is a lot for a barn, but it’s concrete, steel and other materials that elephants can’t knock down, Buckley said.

If you’ve lived here awhile, you may remember that Lota came to our zoo as a baby in 1954. In 1990, the zoo decided she was too aggressive and sold her for $1 to Hawthorn, setting up a public relations nightmare when she fell down during shipment in full view of TV cameras.

The animal rights community went nuts, although that hasn’t helped Lota much. Considered old for a captive elephant, she’s been dragged all over the country to entertain people who would probably rather be home playing video games or watching cable.

The Zoological Society here still has $20,000 set aside to get Lota out of Hawthorn and regain some face it lost 14 years ago when it sent her away.

Amy Joyce is the main reason I’m writing about Lota again. TheWhitefishBaywoman became something of an elephant activist after reading my earlier Lota column. She agreed to coordinate the effort of everyone who contacted me and she’s never stopped thinking and worrying about Lota long after I moved on to other topics.

"I remember getting 100 phone calls from people all saying, ‘What can I do?’ There is no better time to put your money where your mouth is," Joyce said.

Joyce grew up in a house where bugs were carried outside, not killed. Zoos have always creeped her out a little. She believes animals matter and that more evolved humans can’t pretend otherwise.

She thinks it’s crunch time for Lota, Milwaukee’s old elephant.