Over the past 200 years, man’s relationship to exotic animals has changed dramatically, and RI has been a microcosm of this change.
From the murder of America’s first trained elephant, Bette, in Chepachet in 1826, to the 1993 relocation of Fanny, a former circus elephant in Pawtucket who was well-loved and unintentionally poorly treated for 35 years, to the attempts to artificially inseminate Alice in Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence in order to preserve the species, Rhode Island has uniquely witnessed and participated in the evolution of consciousness regarding our connection with the animal kingdom. As the dialogue (sometimes quite heated) about our responsibility to, and relationship with, exotic animals resurfaces every year when circuses arrive in RI, this topic is always timely.
This documentary will give historical context to that conversation.

The documentary will be composed of three segments that will segue into each other. The first, that of Bette, will focus on the development of the circus in early New England.
Fanny’s story will spotlight the development of the animal welfare movement in the US, especially in the 20th century.
And, of course, Alice’s story will examine the place of zoos and sanctuaries in the future of this endangered animal.