One of the First Elephants in America Was Gunned Down in Rhode Island

Nowadays, nearly every zoo in America features an elephant. At Buttonwood Park Zoo in New Bedford, guests can visit Emily and Ruth any day of the week.

Ruth also happens to be one of the oldest Asian elephants in North America at 64 years old, but 200 years ago, elephants were extremely rare on this side of the world.

So rare in fact, that by 1826, only two elephants had ever stepped foot in North America. One of them was tragically gunned down in Rhode Island.

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America's First Elephant

It's hard to imagine now, but 200 years ago, seeing an elephant in real life was practically unheard of in North America. The first elephant to travel by ship to this side of the Atlantic was Big Bett, who landed in New York Harbor in 1796.

Big Bett was purchased by Hakaliah Bailey, an ancestor of the Bailey in the famous Barnum & Bailey Circus, and was the only elephant on the continent for nearly 25 years.

Big Bett was shot in 1816 for trespassing on a religious fanatic's farmland on a Sunday. Bailey was heartbroken by the loss and had another elephant transported to America, though her story would end much the same way.

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Little Bett, more often called Betty the Fabulous Learned Elephant, may have been even more popular than her predecessor. The crowds she drew from Charlestown to Portland were legendary.

Rhode Island's Infamous Elephant Murder

On her first trip to Chepachet, Rhode Island, Betty was snuck in overnight and hidden inside a tent so that anyone who wanted to view the amazing elephant had to pay a 12.5-cent admission fee.

People must have paid up because a few years later in 1826, Betty returned to Rhode Island and the crowds were eager to see her again.

Once again the plan was to sneak Betty in overnight, but as the team leading Betty was crossing the bridge over the Chepachet River, six men opened fire on the elephant.

Betty was hit by seven bullets, most of them to her head, and died instantly on the bridge.

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The men behind the killing reportedly left their weapons in the mill they aimed from and joined the crowd of onlookers at the bridge. However the guns were recovered and after an investigation into the murder, six men were arrested and charged with Betty's death.

The men never gave a reason for killing Betty; they apparently just wanted to see if they could. The court ordered each man to pay a $500 penalty for the elephant's death, a fine of nearly $16,000 in today's money.

Betty's the Learned Elephant's Death Led to Change

Though none of the men spent any time behind bars for the crime, the incident led other exotic animal owners to realize they needed to unify and protect themselves and their animals. This ultimately led to the traveling circus as we know it today.

Betty's death was tragic and traveling circuses had their major downsides as well, but the death may have ultimately led to many changes in laws protecting animals over the years.

Today you can see a commemorative plaque in Betty's honor still on the bridge over the Chepachet River.