Bart Gets An Elephant - Plot

Plot

During a cleaning day at the Simpsons' house, Bart wins a KBBL radio contest after the station's DJs, Bill and Marty, call him up. They give Bart the choice of two prizes: $10,000 in cash or the "gag" prize, a full-grown African elephant. Bart chooses the elephant. This surprises Bill and Marty, who believed that no one would ever take the gag prize, and thus have no elephant to give away. They instead offer Bart the money and a variety of other prizes, all of which he refuses, saying that he only wants the elephant. Word spreads throughout town about Bill and Marty's refusal to give Bart an elephant, prompting their boss to give them a choice: either arrange for delivery of an elephant, or lose their jobs to a DJ machine. They decide on the former option.

Bart names his new elephant Stampy and ties him to a post in the backyard. Lisa begins complaining that keeping an elephant as a pet is cruel, while Homer is concerned that Stampy will eat him out of house and home. In an effort to offset food costs, Bart and Homer exhibit Stampy by charging customers to see and ride him, but they fail to earn enough to cover even one day's food bill. Homer declares they can't afford the elephant and must sell him, much to Bart's dismay. The family is visited by a representative of a game reserve, who says their acres of open land similar to African Savannah would be a good habitat for the elephant to live in. However, Homer dimisses this as he learns that he won't receive any money for it since the reserve is non-profit.

A wildlife poacher named Mr. Blackheart then offers to buy Stampy. Homer wants to take the money, but Bart and Lisa are against the idea — particularly since Mr. Blackheart openly admits to being an ivory dealer. Just as Homer and Mr. Blackheart reach a deal, Stampy and Bart run off, wreaking havoc throughout Springfield, and are soon nowhere to be found. The family begins searching and finds them at the Springfield Tar Pits, where Homer still plans to sell Stampy to the ivory dealer for the money. Bart and Lisa then angrily ask if Homer would like to be sold to an ivory dealer himself, who would kill him and make his teeth into piano keys, to which Homer responds positively, before finding out that he's stuck in one of the tar pits. Bart orders Stampy to free Homer, to which he does, and Homer, feeling grateful, agrees to donate the elephant to the wildlife reserve.