Tuesday, September 2, 2008
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A Blog designed for discussion of topics related to, but not limited to, Circus, Zoos, Animal Training, and Animal Welfare/Husbandry. Sometimes opening up the dialog is the best starting point of all. And if for nothing else when people who agree and don't agree, get together and start discussing it, it will open up a lot of peoples minds. Debate and discussion even amongst themselves opens a window where there wasn't one before.
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4 comments:
owners, managers, performers, staff and trainers were always suspicious of any kind of law enforcement or regulations, probably because of the preconceived notions in many areas (perpetuated, of course, by grift and then boiler room heat with tiny shows nickle and diming everyone.) only a few people in our industry believed that the best way to solve a problem is to talk about it. i think there were 4 primary attitudes: "if we ignore it, it will go away," "I don't have to worry about it, somebody else will take care of it," sponsors like the shrine will take care of it for us, and finally, "we're screwed no matter what we do."
i know at that time it was very difficult, almost impossible, for the people writing the laws to get any cooperation from anybody in our industry.
i was always told by the people i worked with to tell the truth in my few dealings with city councils, etc, but the man who trained me was an exception to many of the prevailing rules about showmen. i was also taught in college classes that if you have a disaster that is going to go public no matter what, face it honestly, deal with it, put the best spin on it you can but if you have to, admit mistakes were made and explain what is being done rto correct them, then move on to the next order of business as soon as possible.
sometimes i think i may have been the only person in the world that listened to that advice. think about how many things might be different now if only....
Henry,
I am sure you recall some of the conversations we had as far back as 1984. Ringling was still transporting the tigers in an open ended tunnel car, stopping once every 24 hours to water, and watering was running a hose over the top of the cages, and getting as much in an attached water dish, with no way to dump what they didn't drink.
Wade
wade -- as i've said before, one of the things that impressed me the most about you was a genuine concern about the animals, about making sure they were taken care of and your willingness to question things you thought were wrong -- very few other trainers or presenters or anyone else ever questioned what might be best for the animals. i think if some with more clout had been more vocal about the way animals were treated, it might have helped. (then again it might not. we will never know)
there were many things i saw that didn't seem right to me and in retrospect they seem even worse. the way animals were often treated was deplorable and i'm sure helped create the ar movement. i think in the beginning a lot of ar people were more concerned about the animals welfare than they were about whether they jumped through a fire hoop. many of the people in the beginning got involved out of compassion for the animals. hindsight is always much easier, but i think if everyone had not banded together to circle the wagons things might be different today. trainers who had nothing to hide should have been more open, but that would have been the kiss of death for their work. i'm afraid it might still be in many instances.
in the early 60s, one of my best friends assisted with a few training sessions with a group of baby elephants conducted by a man who was considered a good animal man. but the horror stories he told -- and things i saw with the tiny elephants with my own eyes -- were horrible. (just a note: these elephants were not owned by anyone i ever worked with or even knew other than to say hello to) my friend stopped helping when he saw how the elephants were treated, and went on to work one of the best elephant acts i've ever seen a few years later -- using none of the knowledge acquired in his brief course in how not to train elephants.
getting back on track, i believe if more people had been blessed with the kind of integrity you have as far as animals, and the kind of integrity that was drilled into me by the people who trained me, the circus business would not be having many of the problems we have today.
i have no problems with the great art of ballyhoo bullshit, and given the chance again, i'd still pull out all the stops to make people think the acts i was working with were the best in history. but a little integrity and compassion goes a long way.
Henry,
For your courage you should be commended. I would wager roughly 6 out of 10 fans feel as you do, or have seen or witnessed what your friend did, but are scared shit less to be considered anything but with it and for it, and will gladly look the other way it it means being invited to the jackpot session. I have often wondered what love for something is?
Wade
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