In August 1995, workers behind the Luxor spent hours trying to get Stoney, a 22-year-old performing elephant, on his feet to transfer him by crane to a trailer.
That trailer was supposed to take him to a barn in Arkansas to recover from a crippling leg injury suffered nearly a year earlier when the hamstring in his right rear leg ripped apart.
The injury happened as his longtime trainer, James Michael LaTorres, had him rehearse the animal’s single rear leg stand for the “Winds of the Gods” show at the Luxor’s Pharaoh’s Theater.
A crew of crane operators had to wait for the stricken Stoney to stand on his own before he could be lifted onto the trailer.
