Overview
- On August 20, 1994, the 20-year-old African bush elephant Tyke trampled trainer Allen Campbell during a Circus International performance at Honolulu’s Neal Blaisdell Centre.
- Tyke escaped into downtown Honolulu, charged pedestrians, and crashed into vehicles before police fired multiple rounds over several city blocks.
- The elephant did not die immediately and later succumbed to severe injuries reported as nerve damage and brain hemorrhaging.
- Tyke had previously broken free twice in 1993, at the Jaffa Shrine Center in Altoona, Pennsylvania, and at the North Dakota State Fair in Minot, North Dakota.
- The Mirror, The Mirror US, and the Daily Star republished the case on November 19, 2025, framing it as a catalyst for animal-rights campaigns and Hawaii’s ban on exotic animals in traveling shows, with Tyke also commemorated at Valley of the Temples Cemetery.