There will be three shows a day:
Wednesday, noon, 3 and 6 p.m.; Thursday, noon, 3 and 7 p.m.; Friday, 1, 3 and 6 p.m.; Saturday, 1:30, 3:30 and 6 p.m.; and Sunday, 12:30, 2 and 4 p.m.
The show, which is run by Bill and Cindy Morris out of Tampa, Fla., is geared toward education, through entertaining means.
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"Cora is a large female at 9,000 pounds, and it's important for people to understand how large, but how graceful she is."
The educational part of the show lasts about 20 minutes, said Morris, and the stunts are another seven. At the end of each program, the audience is invited to take elephant rides (a $5 charge) and have a photo taken with the elephant ($8).
Morris said people can bring their own cameras to take their own photos at no charge.
Day-to-Day Life
When it's not touring the country visiting fairs and such, Elephant Encounter calls Florida home. The Morrises and the elephants live on 10 acres just outside of Tampa.
Eight acres of the property are fenced in for Cora and Shannon to roam, said Morris.
Cora has been in the Morris family since she was 5 years old. She has a wonderful personality, loves attention, and is very protective of her buddy, Shannon, said Morris.
Shannon has been with the Morris family since she was 1 1/2 years old. She loves to smile for the camera, Morris noted. "They both come up to the barn every night to get their vitamins and minerals," said Morris. "It's a special elephant pellet.
"They know when it's time for grain," he said. "It's the high point of their day."
Elephants don't eat meat, poultry or dairy products, said Morris. Their diet is strictly vegetarian.
"We go through about 50 pounds a day for the two of them," he said.
The veterinarian who cares for Cora and Shannon is Dr. Dennis Schmitt out of Springfield, Mo. He is the alumni professor of reproductive biology in the agriculture department at Missouri State University and was a speaker at this year's Exotics Symposium.
A day at home with Cora and Shannon begins around 7 or 8 a.m. with the girls being let out to pasture.
"We have a pond on the property and they go there to swim, dig, throw dirt - to play," said Morris.
At roughly 50 and 22 years of age, Cora and Shannon could have 30 or more years to live. Cora is expected to live into her 80s, and Shannon can live to between 50 and 60.
Traveling
Traveling with the elephants is done with a 53-foot semitrailer that features two stalls. Cora and Shannon are loaded into the stalls so that they face each other.
"So they can socialize," said Morris. "That's very important for elephants."
Morris drives the semi-trailer and his wife follows in an RV. The couple often stop along the way, at nighttime typically, to let the elephants out to walk around and stretch their legs and also to sleep for the night.
"Elephants sleep standing up, but they can't sleep while we're driving," said Morris.
For shows, like the ones here at the Washington Town and Country Fair this week, the elephants will be kept in an 80- by 80-foot hot-wired area, said Morris. There will be an awning to provide shade.
It may sound like a small space for such large animals, but Morris isn't worried about the elephants trying to leave the area.
"If you keep them content - which we do, we keep water and food in front of them - they won't want to leave the area," he said.
Third-Generation Elephant Owner
Morris is a third-generation elephant owner and trainer. The business was started by his grandfather, Mr. Kelly, who owned a construction company way back before the Depression. "The story goes that he did a job during the Depression and the company didn't have the money to pay him, so they paid him with a bear," said Morris. "Then when all the construction work fell off because of the Depression, he trained the bear to do tricks and people paid him 5 cents to watch."
Eventually Mr. Kelly turned the bear tricks act into a full-blown circus, including seven elephants. Later, Kelly's son-in-law (Bill Morris' father), who also was an entertainer, took over the Kelly circus and decided to focus exclusively on elephants. He had 19 elephants. Bill Morris and his wife, Cindy, followed in the family business.
"It's my life," Morris told The Missourian. "I was brought up doing this, and it's something I wanted to keep doing. It gets into your blood."
Morris' children, however, aren't interested in carrying on the business once their father retires. That's OK with him. Elephants cannot legally be "acquired" anymore, said Morris, so his only hope of adding new elephants to the act is if either Cora or Shannon would have a baby, and that hasn't worked out. So Morris knows Elephant Encounter will end when Cora and Shannon are ready to call it quits.
"When they're done, I'll probably be done, too," Morris remarked.
Training
Growing up around elephants, Morris learned at a very young age that through love, trust and respect you could build a unique and remarkable bond with elephants.
Like other trained animals, animals used in education, elephants learn through a process of reward and repetition.
Years ago, Elephant Encounter faced criticism from PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, regarding its care of Cora and Shannon, and Morris said there continues to be a certain portion of the population that will believe he abuses the animals. He invites anyone who is concerned to come and see the show.
"Come down, spend time with me, and I'll show you how these animals behave - they don't do something because somebody is making them," said Morris.
"My dad taught me that when I was a kid. An elephant will let you know if it's something they don't want to do. So you don't do that. You do something else." Treating the elephants right, Morris explained, is the only way to get them to do anything you ask. "If you don't stress them out, you will never have a problem with them," he said.
"We do our shows out in the open, right in front of everyone at these fairs, so there is no way we could abuse them without people seeing it," said Morris.
Elephant Encounter does get unannounced inspections from the USDA both while it is at home in Florida and while it is touring for shows.
"We haven't had a write-up in about seven years," said Morris.
For more on Elephant Encounter, people may visit www.elephantencounter.com.
