{"id":9016,"date":"2002-05-04T23:37:30","date_gmt":"2002-05-04T23:37:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogschapman.wpenginepowered.com\/huell-howser-archives\/2017\/03\/03\/elephant-update-visiting-1016\/"},"modified":"2026-08-10T21:36:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T21:36:11","slug":"elephant-update-visiting-1016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/huell-howser-archives\/2002\/05\/04\/elephant-update-visiting-1016\/","title":{"rendered":"Elephant Update &#8211; Visiting (1016)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\">In 1988, Huell attended a touching reunion between Charlie Franks, an 80-year-old elephant trainer, and Nita, the elephant he had raised from a baby of five years. When Charlie retired in the early 1970s after traveling the world with his beloved performing elephant, he donated her to the San Diego Wild Animal Park, and hadn\u2019t seen her for 15 years.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Charlie has since passed away, but Huell returns to the San Diego Wild Animal Park to say hello to Nita.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Note: This episode was released across Public Broadcasting Service&#8217;s (PBS) affiliated stations in California, but not necessarily on the same day for each station. The date shown represents an earliest, approximate airdate for this episode.&nbsp;<br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Embedded Media titled: VISI1016_elephant_update\" src=\"https:\/\/video.chapman.edu\/V\/Video?v=10481113&amp;node=45871543&amp;a=177364409&amp;preload=false\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 1988, Huell attended a touching reunion between Charlie Franks, an 80-year-old elephant trainer, and Nita, the elephant he had [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1082,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"custom_author_name":"","chapman_pin_hero_slider":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-visiting"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Huell Howser Archives at Chapman University | Chapman Blogs<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/huell-howser-archives\/2002\/05\/04\/elephant-update-visiting-1016\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Elephant Update - Visiting (1016) - Huell Howser Archives at Chapman University\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In 1988, Huell attended a touching reunion between Charlie Franks, an 80-year-old elephant trainer, and Nita, the elephant he had [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/huell-howser-archives\/2002\/05\/04\/elephant-update-visiting-1016\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Huell Howser Archives at Chapman University\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2002-05-04T23:37:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-10T21:36:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brian Song\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Brian Song\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.chapman.edu\\\/huell-howser-archives\\\/2002\\\/05\\\/04\\\/elephant-update-visiting-1016\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.chapman.edu\\\/huell-howser-archives\\\/2002\\\/05\\\/04\\\/elephant-update-visiting-1016\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Brian Song\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.chapman.edu\\\/huell-howser-archives\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d10f64b99361ca90cf7a027134494dd7\"},\"headline\":\"Elephant Update &#8211; Visiting (1016)\",\"datePublished\":\"2002-05-04T23:37:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-08-10T21:36:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.chapman.edu\\\/huell-howser-archives\\\/2002\\\/05\\\/04\\\/elephant-update-visiting-1016\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":120,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.chapman.edu\\\/huell-howser-archives\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Visiting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.chapman.edu\\\/huell-howser-archives\\\/2002\\\/05\\\/04\\\/elephant-update-visiting-1016\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.chapman.edu\\\/huell-howser-archives\\\/2002\\\/05\\\/04\\\/elephant-update-visiting-1016\\\/\",\"name\":\"Elephant Update - Visiting (1016) - Huell Howser Archives at Chapman University\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.chapman.edu\\\/huell-howser-archives\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2002-05-04T23:37:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-08-10T21:36:11+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.chapman.edu\\\/huell-howser-archives\\\/2002\\\/05\\\/04\\\/elephant-update-visiting-1016\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.chapman.edu\\\/huell-howser-archives\\\/2002\\\/05\\\/04\\\/elephant-update-visiting-1016\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.chapman.edu\\\/huell-howser-archives\\\/2002\\\/05\\\/04\\\/elephant-update-visiting-1016\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.chapman.edu\\\/huell-howser-archives\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Elephant Update &#8211; Visiting (1016)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.chapman.edu\\\/huell-howser-archives\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.chapman.edu\\\/huell-howser-archives\\\/\",\"name\":\"Huell Howser Archives at Chapman University\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.chapman.edu\\\/huell-howser-archives\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.chapman.edu\\\/huell-howser-archives\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.chapman.edu\\\/huell-howser-archives\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Huell Howser Archives at Chapman University\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.chapman.edu\\\/huell-howser-archives\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.chapman.edu\\\/huell-howser-archives\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.chapman.edu\\\/huell-howser-archives\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/91\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/MasterBrand_000-scaled-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.chapman.edu\\\/huell-howser-archives\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/91\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/MasterBrand_000-scaled-1.png\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":435,\"caption\":\"Huell Howser Archives at Chapman University\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.chapman.edu\\\/huell-howser-archives\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.chapman.edu\\\/huell-howser-archives\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d10f64b99361ca90cf7a027134494dd7\",\"name\":\"Brian Song\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/57f9325a615806ca2378255c78735aa2a544ebf1facc0dbe3785f284a02ad9b0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/57f9325a615806ca2378255c78735aa2a544ebf1facc0dbe3785f284a02ad9b0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/57f9325a615806ca2378255c78735aa2a544ebf1facc0dbe3785f284a02ad9b0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Brian Song\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.chapman.edu\\\/huell-howser-archives\\\/author\\\/bsong\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Huell Howser Archives at Chapman University | Chapman Blogs","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/huell-howser-archives\/2002\/05\/04\/elephant-update-visiting-1016\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Elephant Update - Visiting (1016) - Huell Howser Archives at Chapman University","og_description":"In 1988, Huell attended a touching reunion between Charlie Franks, an 80-year-old elephant trainer, and Nita, the elephant he had [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/huell-howser-archives\/2002\/05\/04\/elephant-update-visiting-1016\/","og_site_name":"Huell Howser Archives at Chapman University","article_published_time":"2002-05-04T23:37:30+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-08-10T21:36:11+00:00","author":"Brian Song","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Brian Song","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/huell-howser-archives\/2002\/05\/04\/elephant-update-visiting-1016\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/huell-howser-archives\/2002\/05\/04\/elephant-update-visiting-1016\/"},"author":{"name":"Brian Song","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/huell-howser-archives\/#\/schema\/person\/d10f64b99361ca90cf7a027134494dd7"},"headline":"Elephant Update &#8211; Visiting (1016)","datePublished":"2002-05-04T23:37:30+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-10T21:36:11+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/huell-howser-archives\/2002\/05\/04\/elephant-update-visiting-1016\/"},"wordCount":120,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/huell-howser-archives\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Visiting"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/huell-howser-archives\/2002\/05\/04\/elephant-update-visiting-1016\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/huell-howser-archives\/2002\/05\/04\/elephant-update-visiting-1016\/","name":"Elephant Update - Visiting (1016) - Huell Howser Archives at Chapman University","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/huell-howser-archives\/#website"},"datePublished":"2002-05-04T23:37:30+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-10T21:36:11+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/huell-howser-archives\/2002\/05\/04\/elephant-update-visiting-1016\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/huell-howser-archives\/2002\/05\/04\/elephant-update-visiting-1016\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/huell-howser-archives\/2002\/05\/04\/elephant-update-visiting-1016\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/huell-howser-archives\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Elephant Update &#8211; Visiting (1016)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/huell-howser-archives\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/huell-howser-archives\/","name":"Huell Howser Archives at Chapman University","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/huell-howser-archives\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/huell-howser-archives\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/huell-howser-archives\/#organization","name":"Huell Howser Archives at Chapman University","url":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/huell-howser-archives\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/huell-howser-archives\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/huell-howser-archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/91\/2026\/04\/MasterBrand_000-scaled-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/huell-howser-archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/91\/2026\/04\/MasterBrand_000-scaled-1.png","width":2560,"height":435,"caption":"Huell Howser Archives at Chapman University"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/huell-howser-archives\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/huell-howser-archives\/#\/schema\/person\/d10f64b99361ca90cf7a027134494dd7","name":"Brian Song","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/57f9325a615806ca2378255c78735aa2a544ebf1facc0dbe3785f284a02ad9b0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/57f9325a615806ca2378255c78735aa2a544ebf1facc0dbe3785f284a02ad9b0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/57f9325a615806ca2378255c78735aa2a544ebf1facc0dbe3785f284a02ad9b0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Brian Song"},"url":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/huell-howser-archives\/author\/bsong\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/huell-howser-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/huell-howser-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/huell-howser-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/huell-howser-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1082"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/huell-howser-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9016"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/huell-howser-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13096,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/huell-howser-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9016\/revisions\/13096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/huell-howser-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/huell-howser-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/huell-howser-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}