Lion taming

Last updated
Lion tamer
Lion tamer (LOC pga.03749).jpg
19th-century lithograph of a lion tamer
Occupation
Occupation type
Performing arts
Activity sectors
Entertainment, show business
Description
Fields of
employment
Circus
Related jobs
Animal trainer
Circus director and lion tamer Gerd Siemoneit-Barum during a performance in Nordenham, Germany in May 1977 Gerd Siemoneit-Barum.jpg
Circus director and lion tamer Gerd Siemoneit-Barum during a performance in Nordenham, Germany in May 1977

Lion taming is the taming and training of lions, either for protection or for use in entertainment, such as the circus. The term often applies to the taming and display of lions and other big cats such as tigers, leopards, jaguars, black panthers, cheetahs, and cougars. People often use lion taming as a metaphor for any dangerous activity. Lion taming occurs in zoos around the world to enable the keepers to carry out medical procedures and feedings.

The Captive Animals Protection Society maintains that animal welfare cannot be guaranteed in circuses. [1]

Notable lion tamers

In chronological order

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Al G. Barnes Circus</span> Early 20th century traveling show

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Great British Circus was a company that specialized in circus entertainment. Unusually for a UK-based circus company, it included wild animals such as tigers, camels and lions in its acts. Martin Lacey was the company's owner and Circus Director. In 2012, at the age of 70, he announced he would retire and the Great British Circus would not return for a 2013 season.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martin Lacey Jr.</span> British animal trainer

Martin Lacey Jr. is an English circus performer and trainer of wild animals who has achieved fame in Germany. He is the son of Martin Lacey, the circus ringmaster and animal trainer who bred most of the tigers used in the Esso television advertisements in the 1970s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isaac A. Van Amburgh</span>

Isaac A. Van Amburgh (1808–1865) was an American animal trainer who developed the first trained wild animal act in modern times. By introducing jungle acts into the circus, Van Amburgh paved the way for combining menageries with circuses. After that, menageries began using equestrian and clown performances in circus rings. Gradually the distinction between circus and menagerie faded.

A travelling menagerie was a touring group of showmen and animal handlers who visited towns and cities with common and exotic animals. The term "menagerie", first used in seventeenth century France, was primarily used to refer to aristocratic or royal animal collections. Most visitors to travelling menageries would never have the opportunity to see such animals under other circumstances and their arrival in a town would catalyse great excitement. The shows were both entertaining and educational; in 1872 The Scotsman described George Wombwell's travelling menagerie as "[having] done more to familiarise the minds of the masses of our people with the denizens of the forest than all the books of natural history ever printed during its wandering existence."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martini Maccomo</span> Lion tamer

Martini Maccomo was a lion tamer in Victorian Britain. He performed with William Manders' menagerie from around 1854 and remained the group's key attraction until his death. His act involved pursuing lions and tigers around a cage utilising whips, pistols and knuckledusters. The performances were renowned for their danger, and attacks on Maccomo by the animals were often reported on in newspapers. He was portrayed as a noble savage with stereotypical "African" dress, although he later moved away from this characterization. He was known for his coolness of nerve in the ring and his mild-mannered nature outside it. Maccomo died in Sunderland in 1871.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Macarte</span>

Thomas Macarte was a one-armed lion tamer who as Massarti the Lion-Tamer was attacked and killed during a circus performance in Bolton in Lancashire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ellen Chapman (lion tamer)</span>

Ellen Chapman later Ellen Sanger appearing as Madame Pauline de Vere was a British circus performer and lion tamer. She was said to be the first woman to put her head in a lion's jaws and a demonstration impressed Queen Victoria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank C. Bostock</span>

Francis Charles Bostock (1866–1912) was an English entrepreneur and animal trainer, who represented the touring section of the Bostock and Wombwell Menagerie. He toured Europe and America and in the latter he was known as "The Animal King". At death he was called "England's Greatest Showman".

Sara Houcke, also known as The Tiger Whisperer, is a professional animal tamer who began working for the "Greatest Show on Earth" program at the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1999. Born into a centuries-old family of circus performers, she began training from a young age in various forms of circus acts. She joined a German circus upon reaching adulthood before becoming a multi-year tiger and elephant trainer at the Ringling Bros. Circus. Later, she joined the Grand Cirque de Saint Petersburg in the early 2010s and has remained caretaker of the animal menagerie and performer since.

References

  1. "Circuses". Captive Animal Protection Society. Retrieved 4 December 2012.
  2. 1 2 Culhane, John (1990). The American circus : an illustrated history (1st ed.). New York: Holt. ISBN   0805004246.
  3. History Magazine, "Step Right Up," October/November 2001 issue.
  4. DEATH 'OF MASSARTI, THE LION TAMER'. HORRIBLE SCENE - The Queanbeyan Age (NSW : 1867 - 1904) 21 March 1872, Page 3 - National Library of Australia
  5. John Stewart, The Acrobat: Arthur Barnes and the Victorian Circus, McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers (2012) - Google Books p. 208
  6. He's dying up there: the macabre, surprisingly funny history of onstage deaths - The Daily Telegraph, 10 September 2019]
  7. The Chicago Tribune 1903, p. 44
  8. "Lord of the Rings: Gunther Gebel-Williams, 1934–2001". Ringling.com. Archived from the original on 2009-02-03. Retrieved 2009-01-26.
  9. El Periódico newspaper (May 4, 2010), article about Cristo's death. Resume of his life and rewards (in Spanish).