BURIAL OF BETTY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19375, 13 July 1937, Page 9

BURIAL OF BETTY

ELEPHANT'S FUNERAL

SORROW OP FORMER MATE

EARLIER SERIOUS ILLNESS

The baby elephant, Betty, belonging to Sole Brothers’ circus, which died irom pneumonia on Thursday morning, was buried in simple state at the Epsom showgrounds, Auckland. A circus wagon was the hearse and a large hole dug in the grounds not far irom the shed in whicti she died was ner grave. The burial was performed after a medical examination had Deen made and necessary formalities completed with the Health Department.

All the circus mourns, but particularly Topsy, the only other animal of her species in the menagerie. Topsy, an older, more mature animal, was her constant companion and Betty regarded her somewhat as a mother. Topsy has become despondent and went about her work recently at a mournful gait. An unusual record was probably established by Betty in her final illness. It is extremely doubtful it any other sufferer in New Zealand has ever consumed so many aspirins in so short a period. For the normal person the usual dose is two of these tablets, but for an elephant it was considered that 30 at a time would not be too many. Betty had several such doses and her brief illness accounted for well over 100.

Despite her tender age, Betty had suffered at least one previous illness that nearly brought her to death’s door. When the circus animals were being conveyed from Waitara to Te Kuiti by motor lorries early in May a cage of monkeys fell from its conveyance and crashed down the steep bank from the road almost into the Awakino River. While circus employees were busy rescuing the terrified monkeys Betty and Topsy stepped from their lorries and began cropping the foliage at the roadside. Injudicious choice of poisonous tutu had an unfortunate result. Both animals became ill. Topsy recovered fairly quickly under treatment, but for three days Betty’s health was in a parlous state. Eventually she recovered.