Tuffi was a female circus elephant. On 21 July 1950 the circus director Franz Althoff had Tuffi, then 3 years old, take the Schwebebahn (a suspended monorail) in Wuppertal, Germany as a marketing gag. The elephant apparently did not enjoy the ride, trumpeted wildly and ran through the wagon, broke through a window and fell some 5 meters down into the Wupper River, suffering only minor injuries. A panic then broke out in the wagon and some passengers were injured. Althoff helped the elephant out of the water. Both the circus director and the official who had allowed the ride were fined.
Tuffi is included here in Tuba Playing Made Easy because while not officially playing a tuba per se still she is reputed to have demonstrated extraordinary trumpeting ability under duress and is thus by the author duly recognized for that.
