Nosey just went to a sanctuary — and people are fighting to make sure she can stay there.
Nosey, an elderly and arthritic elephant, was being carted through Alabama as part of a traveling circus act when something amazing happened.
Nosey was shipped to the U.S. from the plains of Africa in the early 1980s after being taken from her mother. She was just 2 years old.
Since then, she has been performing in circus acts. For the last 34 years, she’s been owned by Hugo Tommy Liebel, who runs the Liebel Family Circus (which has racked up its fair share of animal welfare violations over the years). Even though Nosey suffers from degenerative joint disease and other ailments, Liebel still hauls Nosey from performance to performance, renting her out to other circuses and local fairs, where she’s forced to give rides, when she’s not performing in his shows.
Nosey hasn’t been allowed to walk free or socialize with other elephants in over three decades, despite countless petitions from people concerned for her welfare urging the government to revoke Liebel’s USDA license for Nosey and send her to a sanctuary. The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee issued a standing offer to take Nosey in and give her the expansive natural fields and socialization with other elephants she’s lacked for so many years.
But everything changed very quickly last week. The traveling circus act was stopped in Moulton, Alabama, to fix one of their trucks, when authorities started receiving calls from people concerned about Nosey’s well-being.
The trailer she was traveling in appeared to be too small for her to be able to even lie down and rest. And reports of Nosey being chained too tightly, by one front leg and one back leg, also surfaced.
Nosey was seized by Lawrence County officials, and a court held a hearing about whether the seizure of Nosey would be extended until another hearing about her future can take place in a couple of weeks. Officials took Nosey to the sanctuary while her fate is being determined.