Note the well maintained props the bent barred arena and the "habitats" below.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
For Ben Trumble--World Jungle Compound/Jungleland/Thousand Oaks revisited
Posted by
Wade G. Burck
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12 comments:
Wade, are these oictures of you as a child, with your family?
Mary Ann
Mary Ann,
No way. I was never out of North Dakota until I left for Naples and Jungle Larry's. Plus these pictures look earlier the 1968 when I would have been 4.
Wade
Wade, I thought it would have been 1958 when you would have been four years old, and these pictures don't look that much older than that since they are in color. So if they are not you, then who are they?
Mary Ann
Wade, I thought it would have been 1958 when you would have been four years old, and these pictures don't look that much older than that since they are in color. So if they are not you, then who are they?
Mary Ann
Did you hit the wrong number on your keyboard or are your maths that bad????
Or was that just wishful thinking? LOL
Unbelievable!!!! Jeannie asked Madame Col's. publicist "are you sure," and then quite asking. Mary Ann has to discredit my publicist by asking twice, in case they didn't hear the first time, and then Steve from thousands of miles away has to jump in and kick it around.
I don't know who it is Mary Ann, and wish Ben and others had just had a look at the props and cages and that was it.
Wade
They weren't wasting a dime on paint, and the welder must have been busy elsewhere. What was Jungle Larry's like when you were there?
So it was wishful thinking huh?????? LOL
Seriously [for once!] - would the caging and props have been pretty well standard for their day?
Maybe a bit better even than some latter day acts that I have seen photos of?
Interesting to see a hyena in the background cage. Was it in an act?
Steve,
I wouldn't know about standard for their day, each time I go "what are you talking about" to something, I am shut down. LOL If they were or they were not, I think they will always address an advancement, which I think is often forgotten to the advocates given the reverence and reference to the older eras and times by the industry "experts". We cry, foul if they reference something from a Court book, yet claim that's when men were men, and "by God, honest to God" animal trainers when a picture pops up, with the exceptional few actually knowledgeable(knowing better is the same thing) enough to see what is being seen. There's your serious.
Wade
Ben,
That is the amazing deal, and probably what convinced me to pursue a career with animals. It was spotless and Larry was a freak for cleanliness. There was an old grounds keeper named Uncle Joe and a crew who did nothing but plant, cut palm fronds that had died, and paint and rake and transplant trees. He being from "the old school" of course had some antiquated ideas, that today we would call homey or quaint, like wrapping new born felines you intended to raise in your shirt, and putting it in their box to live with so they would know your "scent" and accept you as a member of the pride. The exhibits were standard chain link of the day, with a cinder block building attached with the night cages/dens inside along one wall out of bars. If memory serves, 5X7X7 tall with benches. Smaller cages/exhibits for leopards, Jaguars, monkeys, birds scattered through the Caribbean Gardens were the "standard" of the day corn cribs with the slopped metal roofs, either circular or oval depending on the species or space available between trees.
The show building was a rectangle cage, not round with seats attached to the brick back wall. The cinder block interior had the same night cages as described above for the show cats along one wall with a cinder block 4 ft. high square pen for the damn Galapagos tortoise's that were drug out of the Amazon when it got below 50. Attached was a separate building so it could be heated if necessary, called the Chimp room which held the performing chimps. Cages if memory serves were barred 4X4 7tall with benches.
Of all the places I have seen and been Ben, with out fear of contradiction, I don't think there was a "private" facility with the high standard of excellence in exhibiting animals that Larry's was. The Tezlaff family has carried that standard today with improvements and quality.
I have often been told I was lucky to work at nice places, but I don't think luck was as much a factor as I chose them. I will not work just anyplace or anywhere in order to be around animals. It has to feel right and be right for the animals, horses or I don't, and I would rather avoid then associate. If they start out good and then deteriorate, nothing I care to be around.
Wade
Wade
4x4 foot cages for chimps - man, that's some seriously high standards. Bet they loved thier bench.
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