Killer elephant owners regret zoo transfer

The owners of a circus elephant that crushed her handler to death in 2007 say they regret what happened to the animal next.

The owners of Arna the elephant (centre) say they would never had retired the animal to a zoo after she killed her handler had they known the outcome of that decision.

The owners of circus elephant Arna, who crushed her handler to death in December 2007, have told a parliamentary inquiry they regret retiring her to a zoo after the incident.

Arna crushed her handler Ray Williams, 57, to death at Yamba on the state’s north coast on December 27, 2007.

Stardust Circus, the last remaining exotic animal circus in Australia, made the “heartbreaking” decision to retire both her and their other elephant Gigi to Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo the next day.

Speaking to an inquiry into the exhibition of exotic animals in circuses and the exhibition of cetaceans (marine animals) in NSW, owner Janice Lennon said she regretted sending the elephant away.

“Had we known the outcome, we would never have done that,” she said.

Arna, pictured at Stardust Circus, crushed her handler Ray Williams, 57, to death on December 27, 2007.

Ms Lennon said in the first few weeks Arna was at the zoo she dropped as much as 300 kilograms and “just pined for the circus the whole time”.

“I did ring Taronga Zoo at the time and said, ‘I’m really worried that Arna’s going to die because she’s fretting for the circus’,” she said.

Ms Lennon said Arna had spent her days waiting by the gate, the last place she saw her former home, and when her family came to visit, Arna and Gigi came “flying down the hill, they were that excited to see us”.

While the elephants eventually began to settle at the zoo, Ms Lennon said when Arna died in 2012, aged 54, keepers could not find a specific cause of death.

“She eventually died and they said they couldn’t find a cause of death, and they said she died of a broken heart, and that was all they put it down to,” she told the inquiry.

A zoo veterinarian stated publicly at the time she believed Arna’s death was because of age-related illness.