Zoo History: Chunee, Star of Exeter Exchange

"The elephant took and gave me my money again - took off my hat - opened a door - trunked a whip - and behaved so well, that I wish he was my butler."

- Lord Byron, November 1813

London in the early 1800s had few stars bigger or more illustrious that Chunee.  He was handsome, he was mysterious, he was charming, but more than that, he was a star of the stage.  His theatrical credits included Blue Beard and Harlequin and Panmadaba.  He counted the poet Lord Byron and the actor Edmund Kean among his acquaintances.  And, of course, he was "big" in the literal sense - eleven feet tall, seven tons.

Of course, it helps to explain that he was an Asian elephant.

Chunee was brought to England in 1809 or 1810 (the records being what they were back then).  Highly trained, he began appearing in various plays - even if the play didn't feature an elephant in the original script, it would pay to have one inserted in, if the opportunity presented itself.  As Chunee began to achieve his adult size, lugging him around from stage to stage became a bit less practical.  Instead, of traveling, he settled down and let his admirers come to him.

Chunee's new place of residence was the Exeter Exchange (popularly known as Exeter 'Change), a building on the north side of London's Strand.  It's most famous attraction had been its menagerie, which opened in 1773.  This was decades before the opening of the London Zoo; the Exeter Exchange menagerie was in competition with its predecessor, the Tower of London menagerie.  Chunee was installed here, under the care of Edward Cross.  He quickly became the star attraction, with countless visitors, large numbers streaming to see him in his upstairs enclosure.  If an upstairs gallery seemed like an odd place to visit and elephant, than that's simply because it was.

In time, a noticeable change began to occur in Chunee.  Later analysis revealed that it was a broken rotted tusk which, in association with musth, began to throw the adult bull elephant into increasingly violent fits of rage (not that different from the story of a later, even more-famous bull elephant - Jumbo).  Again, there were no zoos, no sanctuaries, nowhere else for him to go.  The thought of a rouge elephant tearing through the London Strand was a terrifying one.  The situation peaked in February 1826, when Chunee ramaged and killed one of his caretakers.  The decision was made that Chunee had to die.

After an attempt to feed him poisoned food on March 1st failed, a platoon of soldiers, armed with muskets began to fire upon the elephant. Chunee bellowed in rage, but still did not fall, even after over 150 musketballs had been fired into him.  Instead, a soldier plunged a harpoon in his heart.  Chunee was no more.

With the death of Chunee, Exeter Exchange menagerie began its decline.  It ended its fifty-odd year run in 1828, with the final animals transferred to the Surrey Zoo (itself now closed).  Edward Cross followed his charges there, taking over as the zoo's supervisor.

Even in death, Chunee was destined to be an attraction  Hundreds of curious bystanders lined up to pay to watch his necropsy.  His death caused a public outrage and was, perhaps, the start of the animal welfare movement towards exotic animals in England.  His cleaned and reassembled skeleton was placed on display for over a century.  Even its final destruction was dramatic - it was obliterated in 1941 by a German bomb during World War II.