Dorothy
Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) at
Tulsa Zoo in United States

Biography

☨ ♀ Dorothy

Identification

SSP nr	700

Description
Species:	Asian elephant (Elephas maximus)
Sex and age:	Female ♀

People killed:	2
Origin
Born:	* unknown
Birth place:	in Sri Lanka unspecified location
Death
Dead:	†1960?
Death reason:	unknown:
Locations - owners
Present / last location:	Tulsa Zoo, in United States

Date of arrival

1959-00-00	Tulsa Zoo from Carson & Barnes Circus

1959-00-00	Carson & Barnes Circus from Hagen Brothers Circus

1958-00-00	Hagen Brothers Circus from James M. Cole Circus

1947-00-00	James M. Cole Circus from Rimberg & Fox Circus Equipment Corporation

1947-00-00	Rimberg & Fox Circus Equipment Corporation from Port of Colombo

1947-00-00	Port of Colombo 1947-00-00 from Sri Lanka unspecified location

Record history
History of updates	2010-09-24: 2011-04-27: Source RE 2016-01-05: SSP nr 2023-09-10: Born in Sri Lanka

Latest document update	2023-09-11 06:45:21
Google map

† Dorothy is a dead Female ♀ Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), , who died 1960? at Tulsa Zoo, in United States, .

Origin

Dorothy was born unknown at Sri Lanka unspecified location.

Comments / pictures

At one point the Coles had five elephants, but the ones the papers mentioned most often besides Frieda were Elizabeth and Dorothy. I did not find much on Elizabeth, but Dorothy came directly from Ceylon at nine months old. Baby Dorothy was also very popular. She was billed as the smallest elephant in the circus world, and the paper reported that she searched through peoples’ pockets in hopes of finding treats. By the time he was seven, James Cole Jr. was working the elephants in their act, and for some years he was “the youngest elephant trainer in the country.”

Alice Askins, Education Coordinator at Rose Hill Mansion

Records about Dorothy from Bob Cline

DOROTHY
Female Asian Rimberg & Fox
1947 to 1950 - James M. Cole Circus
1951 to 1957 - Owned by James M. Cole on various shows
1958 to 1959 - Hagen Bros. Circus
Killed James Lloyd Nov.24, 1958
1959 - Carson & Barnes Circus
Crushed Richard Shipley
1959 to 1966 - Zoo in Tulsa, OK.
Died - May 19, 1966
Bob Cline, author of the book "Americas elephants".

Records about Dorothy from William "Buckles" Woodcocks Blog at http://www.bucklesw.blogspot.com/
The James M. Cole Circus toured from 1946 thru 1950. Their first elephant "Frieda" was on the show from the start, the other two "Elizabeth" and "Dorothy" were imported in 1947. After the show closed, Mr. Cole retained the elephants as an independent act, 1951-ï¿½57, during the time Mr. Dykes pictures were taken, after which all three were sold in 1958 to Hagen Bros. Circus (Howard Suesz)
Buckles

William "Buckles" Woodcock

Records about Dorothy from SSPNorth American Studbook for Asian elephants state following records for the asian elephant Dorothy:

700 F ~ 1941 WILD WILD ASIA ???? NONE Capture Dorothy
JM COLE C ~ 1947 ________ Transfer
HAGEN BR ~ 1952 ________ Transfer
HUGO ~ Feb 1959 ________ Transfer
TULSA 22-Apr-59 ________ Transfer
~ 1960 Death

Source: SSP studbook for Asian elephants online

She ended up in an Oklahoma zoo after crushing a man to death at a circus in Texas in 1959.

Reference list

References

Koehl, Dan, (2025). Dorothy, Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) located at Tulsa Zoo in United States. Elephant Encyclopedia, available online retrieved 14 May 2025 at https://www.elephant.se/database2.php?elephant_id=6171. (archived at the Wayback machine)