....Circus brings gift for gardeners: Elephant dung....

By Todd C. Frankel
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
10/10/2009

TROY, Ill. — In some towns visited by the roadside circus, people wait in line for the elephant dung.

Fights can break out, too, like the time three men scrapped over the last of the pachyderm poop. A firefighter from Chicago regularly fishes out particular shapes, looking for the perfect pieces to take home, coat in shellac and give away as paperweights.

But most people want elephant dung for their gardens. It is held in high, almost mystical, regard as a fertilizer. And the circus gives it away for free.

"One lady got some dung from us, and a year later she came back. She brought us a tomato that looked like a softball," said Armando Loyal, who oversees the animals at Kelly Miller Circus.

And what town was that in? He laughed.