![]() Then, after two years of looking for Sally Joseph, a handler who had worked with Tyke at the Hawthorn Corporation in the early 1990s, we finally found her through author Mike Jaynes who had written about her in his book Elephants Among Us. We tracked down our main character Tyrone Taylor on Facebook and, after a period of suspicion about what we were up to and how we would portray the circus industry, he agreed to participate. It was, therefore, all the more remarkable to find those prepared to speak honestly about Tyke and life in the circus. More than any other incident of its kind, Tyke’s rampage polarized the debate over wild performing animals and heightened the industry’s hostility towards the animal rights movement and the media. Twenty years after her rampage in Honolulu, the topic of Tyke remains taboo within the secretive America circus industry. With difficulty: During our early research when we were trying to track down those who actually knew Tyke, we were not prepared for the level of resistance and antagonism we would encounter. How did you find the subjects in your film? In the course of our research we came across the story of Tyke whose story of rebellion against slavery and abuse we felt embodied many of the themes and questions we were exploring. They are highly intelligent, have extremely close family ties, show empathy and are among the few animals that exhibit self-awareness, something humans do not develop until the age of two. They believe that some animals have a level of consciousness that qualifies them for legal personhood. TYKE ELEPHANT OUTLAW grew out of our research into the work of a passionate group of lawyers that is attempting to fundamentally redefine the legal status of certain animals to provide them with some of the same basic rights as humans. How did you learn about the topic of your film and why did it inspire you to make a film about it? It soon became apparent that film and television was a very powerful way to communicate and explore political ideas so I made my first film and have never looked back. SL: After graduating from university, I was a stills photographer and became involved in documenting the feminist movement. I left behind my plans to become an ivory tower academic and went out to find any work I could in the NYC film industry. To me, the idea of capturing the events unfolding in society on film was incredibly exciting. In 1968, during my senior year at Columbia University, I had friends who were involved in filming the Columbia student revolt and I became aware of political filmmakers like Emile de Antonio. SM: When I was in college I saw the Maysles’ SALESMAN and it transformed what I thought about documentary and film altogether. We spoke to to co-directors and co-producers Susan Lambert and Stefan Moore about the film, screening as part of AFI DOCS 2015. The film TYKE ELEPHANT OUTLAW tells the story of the elephant with a focus on performing-animal abuse. Performing-animal abuse isn’t new and continues to make big waves. Yet few who knew the animal’s history - and the inhumane treatment she received in the off-season - were shocked. In 1994, the world watched as Tyke the circus elephant rampaged through Honolulu, Hawaii after mauling her trainer to death. ![]()
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