The remarkable true story of one of the most notorious incidents in early nineteenth-century London. A five-ton elephant confined in a menagerie above a shopping arcade in the Strand suddenly goes berserk, with horrifying and tragic consequences. This is an extraordinary tale of life in the rougher quarters of the city, set against a backdrop of shadowy passages and alleys and dangerous slums. The principal actors the showmen and the dealers are roguish impresarios masquerading as respectable scientists. But at the heart of the story are two good men: the commander of an East India Company ship and the founder of the new Zoological Society of London.