Hirano was also a board member of the Hawaii International Film Festival, a member of the Filipino Cultural Center and president of the McKinley High School Foundation, which raises money for merit scholarships. Hirano, who was on the board since 2000, resigned for medical reasons earlier this year.Īs chief executive officer of public relations firm PMCI Hawaii, Hirano listed a number of large local and mainland companies as clients, including the Honolulu Board of Water Supply, Norwegian Cruise Line, Aloha Petroleum and the Hawaii Employers' Mutual Insurance Company. "I tend to be more vocal, and he'd always come around and have some sort of rational compromise." "He was one of the stabilizing forces of the board," Paresa said. Fellow board member Anthony Paresa called Hirano "the voice of reason" amidst the chaos of monthly meetings. Hirano also gave back to his community as a member of the Hawaii Kai Neighborhood Board. "He really didn't let it (the incident) slow him down," Hayashi said. To remember his brush with the enraged animal, Hirano collected "any kind of elephant as a memento" - figurines, pictures and photos. He was also a spokesman for a Ringling Brothers Circus that came through town. He called the accident a fluke and testified against a City Council bill to prohibit traveling exhibits, parades or circuses from having wild or exotic animals. "He did his job unflinchingly and he always gave more than he received."ĭespite being injured by Tyke - the elephant that first killed her trainer, then injured Hirano and was eventually shot to death in the 1994 incident - Hirano fought to keep the circus coming to Honolulu. "He never wanted any accolades or honor," said Hirano's wife, Amy Hayashi, yesterday. Hirano, 57, died Friday evening at his Hawaii Kai home, less than two months after learning that he had pancreatic cancer. Hirano is also remembered as a lobbyist and public relations manager for a slew of local companies, a political strategist, and a television producer at KHON and KITV. Hirano made international news when the elephant from a Blaisdell Center circus charged and attacked him after killing her trainer. In this image taken from video, Steve Hirano tried to hold Tyke the elephant behind a fenced gate in 1994 in Kakaako as the animal went on a rampage. The video of Tyke the elephant tossing Hirano out of the way as he tried to hold the animal behind a fenced gate is hard to forget. Ultimately, this moving documentary raises fundamental questions about our deep and mysterious connection to other species.By Mary Hirano made international news in 1994 when a rogue elephant from a Blaisdell Center circus, for whom he was serving as publicist, charged and attacked him. Like the classic animal rebellion film King Kong, Tyke is the central protagonist in a tragic but redemptive drama that combines trauma, outrage, insight and compassion. Investigating what led up tho this tragic incident, the film moves between past and present through extraordinary archive of Tyke’s life and death, and the sharply contrasting perspectives of those involved in her story. The film goes back to meet the people who knew her and were affected by her death – former trainers and handlers, circus industry insiders, witnesses to her rampage, and animal rights activists for whom Tyke became a global rallying cry. Her break for freedom – filmed from start to tragic end – traumatised a city and ignited a global battle over the use of animals in the entertainment industry. Tyke Elephant Outlaw is the gripping and emotionally charged story of Tyke, a circus elephant that went on a rampage in Honolulu in 1994, killed her trainer in front of thousands of spectators and died in a hail of gunfire.
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