Wasn't there a Gartner killed a number of years ago by an elephant?
Courtesy of Vincent
Friday, November 7, 2008
Alex and Christian Gärtner--Circus Benneweis
Posted by
Wade G. Burck
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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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6 comments:
Yes, he was those people's father.
I believe he had 5 sons. He used let children present an elephant act by themselves while being aged just 5 or 6.
As far as I know Alex and Christian are the only sons that Josef Gärtner had with his 2nd wife. He had 4 girls with his 1st wife Chiara. He was famous for taking the most difficult Elephants. If Gärtner didn't want your Elephant you had to have a good life insurance. The female Sabi killed Chiara Gärtner in 1982 and Josef Gärtner in 1996 in Carpentras.
Vincent Manero
Vincent,
Thank you. I knew the father had been killed, but I didn't realize one of the wives had too. Good to know there are other options besides divorce court. I'm wondering what point he proved by taking the most difficult elephants and letting his children present an act by themselves. Kinda nice to see they are still around to present an act at a more appropriate age, and that nobody sitting in the seat's got killed.
Incredible.
Wade
Josef Gärtner was a wild but a very funny guy, and one of the few who toured scandinavia for many years.
I first met him 1985, when he was touring Sweden with Circus Scott, and had a bull who eventually was in musth, I believe he had actually three bulls at that time, all tuskers. During those years I saw no african, as far as I recall.
The circus had called the zoo in Stockholm where I was working, and asked for M-99, so our foreman asked us elephant guys to come down with him.
Bandages over his head, looking like some sort of Mumie, but laughing, Josef welcomed us with a large and warm smile, and took us to the bull. On the way he told us that when he openened the transport he had a hard blow from the trunk, which made him sweep the ground several meters.
Josef was limping, but obviously not becasue of the bull, according to rumors some angry husband in Rome had shot him in the foot, during performance in the ring...
He managed to get the bull out, and tethered him on one chain, then he couldnt go near. So he took a tractor and tried to back him up as much as possible, so he could put a second chain on, but the bull made jam of the hydraulic system.
Our foreman gave the bull 50 Valium to calm down, and some other stuff I dont remembered, but no etorphine.
Next evening he was in the ring again, slowly walking with the penis dragging in the sawdust, and all different stories circulated, that he had forced the elephant to drink its own urine, in order to stop the musth etc...
And yes, there was children everywhere, with different sizes of whips to match their small bodies, doing a symphony of cracks with different tones, like a whip orchestra.
In fact the greatest bulls looked almost like a christmas tree due to Gärtners all descendants climbing on to everything not vertical on the elephant.
That elephant was shot in Gothenburg on new years eve 1985-86
Some years later he was in stockholm again on christmas circus, still with two bulls, and an enormous happy smile, telling stories about how he grew up, sleeping on blancets in the elephant tent, which they placed on spread elephant dung, in order to use the heat from the shit.
That was the last time I saw him.
Then in 1998, I trained an african elephant at a safari park in Italy for Vienna Zoo, and went to visit the touring Lydia Togni Circus, Vincengo Togni told me that they had bought 2 or 3 elephants from Circus Benneweiss in Denmark. (Eventually one of those who almost killed Kim Benneweiss)
After a couple of days the eles went out of hands, and made a catastrophe of the tent, and they called Gärtner, and a few hours later he was there with his truck.
And crack here, crack there, and a bang, and he closed the door after the elephants, and a relieved Togni saw him leave, and they repaired the tent.
Not one month later Gärtner was killed on a street in France, and as I heard, by one of the danish elephants, but this may be wrong?
So his kids was suddenly standing on the street and called mum and told her the elephant had killed dad.
Its amazing those kids are still on the road, must be very special genes...
Heres a video from the 1984 show:
http://youtu.be/M50EM9dEOdo
Dan,
Thank you for the link. Neil Williams, former elephant keeper at Tycross send me the same video yesterday, so I will post your link instead of the video from Neil. Thank you also, Neil.
Wade
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