ZIGGY the elephant ASIA/chicago

BORN 1917 died 27/10/1975

Born in Asia named after Flo Ziegfeld
The great American impresario
Who bought him from John Ringling
In 1920 and
Wanted him as a birthday gift
For his daughter understand
A six year old
And and an elephant
Not the ideal gift
And the the elephant
Smashed his greenhouse down
And Ziegfeld feeling miffed

He sold him back to Ringling
Who sold him onto a
Singers Midget Circus
And he bonded straight a way
With a Mr Charles Becker
Who taught Ziggy to play
Harmonica and smoke cigarettes
And genuinely to play

He went to other circuses
But in 1936
Was paired up with a
Johnny Winters
But hated his tactics
And ran away
And after that was sold
To Brookfield Zoo
His keeper a Slim Lewis
And animal lover who

Realised a particular day
Thats when he was in “Musth”
This was in 1941
And what follows was unjust
Ziggy was placed in an old stall
Facing away from light
Chained to a wall
Alone and sad
Which clearly wasn’t right

Human beings sadly
Are not humane no they
Did not understand the soul
And so sadly from that day
Tortured him made him suffer
Fear and intimidation
So many misgivings
And I am sure much trepidation

He must have suffered desperation
But seemingly resigned
To not experiencing sunlight
Which clearly changed his mind
Which set him on another course
Of a nervous self preservation
Of circumspection and secretiveness
And considered deliberation

During this lonely period
His keeper had always knew
That being in Musth
Was why really Ziggy flew
Off the handle aggressively
And hurt him and he tried
To raise the plight of Ziggy
Which the world at large denied

Six tons he weighed and ten feet
Tall
A giant in the extreme
Becoming a Cause Celebre
In some perhaps a dream
Existed to give him a better life
And children began to try
And collect their pennies
And clean cars and the figures
Raised were high

Serving marines and others
In the sixties carried on
Hoping to build a brand new house
So the dark old stalls would be gone
By 1971 yes it took a long long time
A new facility was ready
The reason and the rhyme

Together it all came about
With a remote control door
Over 50 thousand dollars
And a wading pool and more
And a beautiful enclosure inside
It all was there
Some light some heavenly choices
And, no more despair

In March whilst he was playing
He fell into the moat
Broke a tusk and scraped his head
And kind of hurt his throat
Workers filled the moat up
Ziggy continued to lay
For 31 hours he seemingly
Just wanted to stay

But when the gravel was all filled up
He managed to get
back on his old legs again
Seemingly was set
On enjoying what was left
Of life
In the confines of his stall
And seven moths later
Lay down and died
Loved by one and all

1917-1975
Buried in the Field Museum
Chicago

His bones in store