In 1880, Jumbo hit his iron cage doors with his tusks and broke both off near the jawbone. He was in pain. He stopped eating. He leaned against the walls for support. Bartlett and Scotty were forced to perform some crude surgery with a harpoon-like tool they had made. Bartlett was disappointed with the damage to Jumbo's tusks. He had been hoping that Jumbo would grow to be a "tusker" an elephant with huge tusks. After the surgery, Jumbo kept his tusks worn away by rubbing them against the walls of the Elephant House. They never grew more than a few inches long. 