Circus Elephants Die Of Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis apparently caused the deaths of two elephants in a traveling circus, and 12 handlers must be tested for the disease.

Both female Asian elephants were performing with Circus Vargas, which put its remaining three elephants and five riding ponies under indefinite quarantine, circus owner Roland Kaiser said Friday.

One elephant died Aug. 3. Its lungs were 80 percent destroyed by scar tissue, said Shirley Fannin, Los Angeles County director of disease control.

The second elephant died last weekend while being trucked back to the Illinois company that leased the animals. It was examined at Colorado State University in Fort Collins and preliminary tests indicated tuberculosis.

Fannin said the animals didn’t pose a significant danger to the public.