Saturday, March 30, 2013

Weigh to go, ladies


Chip Arthurs of Decatur, Alabama with his elephants makes use of a truck scale at J.P. Mascaro & Sons in Nanticoke to weigh his elephants on Friday to assure they are healthy as well as keeping updated on their weight. The elephants will be performing at next week's Irem Shrine Circus at the 109th Field Artillery in Kingston. (PETE G. WILCOX/THE TIMES LEADER)Chip Arthurs of Decatur, Alabama with his elephants makes use of a truck scale at J.P. Mascaro & Sons in Nanticoke to weigh his elephants on Friday to assure they are healthy as well as keeping updated on their weight. The elephants will be performing at next week's Irem Shrine Circus at the 109th Field Artillery in Kingston.
 (PETE G. WILCOX/THE TIMES LEADER)
 By BILL O’BOYLE
from:  timesleader.com
March 30. 2013
NANTICOKE, PA — You might think Viola, Kelley and Nina have a weight problem. After all, they do weigh 10,360, 8,940 and 5,900 pounds, respectively.
But for these three circus elephants, watching their weight is just a lot of hay — some 350 pounds of it per day.
The three elephants, trained and cared for by Chip and Dallas Arthurs of Decatur, Ala., will perform in next week’s 64th Irem Shrine Circus at the 109th Field Artillery Armory on Market Street.
On Friday the three female elephants were brought to J.P. Mascaro & Sons in Nanticoke to be weighed. Chip Arthurs likes to keep track of their weights to assess their health, he said.
 
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J.P. Mascaro & Sons employee Jim McIntire, right, coaxes his granddaughter Abby Konkus, 2, of Forty Fort into giving Viola a carrot as elephant handlers Dallas, left, and Chip Arthurs of Decatur, Alabama look on during Friday's weigh-in at J.P. Mascaro & Sons in Nanticoke.
(PETE G. WILCOX/THE TIMES LEADER)
“Those numbers are about what I expected,” Arthurs said following the weigh-in. “I’ve had them for more than 30 years, and they are all good girls.”
Viola is 42 years old, Kelley is 43 and Nina is 51. The average life expectancy of an elephant is about 70 years.
When you weigh thousands of pounds, you might feel a little uncomfortable stepping on a scale before a crowd. But when Viola, Kelley and Nina took their turns walking onto the Mascaro & Sons in-ground scale, they appeared content, and the gathering of adults and children fed their egos and appetites with carrots.
read more:
http://www.timesleader.com/news/news/391455/Weigh-to-go-ladies

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