Southwest Missouri fair offering elephant rides

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- A southwest Missouri fair is offering elephant rides one year after a zookeeper was crushed by one of the animals nearby.

The Springfield News-Leader reported elephants from Larry Carden's farm near Springfield are giving rides at the Ozark Empire Fair for the first time.

Zookeeper John Bradford was crushed to death last year by an elephant at Springfield's Dickerson Park Zoo, which stopped offering elephant rides in the late 1990s.

Former zoo director Mike Crocker said the main reason the elephant rides were stopped was liability. He said there's a certain amount of risk for staff members and fair guests that the zoo was no longer willing to accept.

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Information from: Springfield News-Leader, http://www.news-leader.com