NSW: Autopsy should end mystery over elephant handler's death

AAP General News (Australia)
12-28-2007
NSW: Autopsy should end mystery over elephant handler's death

The show will go on for the Stardust Circus tonight .. as grieving workers await autopsy
results to end the mystery surrounding the death of an elephant handler in northern NSW.

A post-mortem examination is expected to determine if the handler died of natural causes
.. or was killed after being trampled by one of the two performing elephants.

It's not yet known if the handler .. aged in his 60s .. died before suffering an injury
to his back .. or even if the elephant caused the back injury.

One of the owners of Stardust Circus .. JAN LENNON .. says everybody's pretty upset
still because he was a very good friend who'd been with the circus for a few years.

The first of the Yamba performances will start at seven o'clock (AEST) tonight .. with
shows continuing over the next nine days before the show moves to Ballina and then Palm
Beach in Queensland.

AAP RTV vpm/hn/sw/tm

KEYWORD: ELEPHANT (SYDNEY)

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