Sunday, June 3, 2012

African Elephants Arrive in Mexico



'Translated as best I could:'

MEXICO CITY, Mexico, in June. 2, 2012. - After five months of negotiations and more than 40 hour flight, arrived Friday at the International Airport of Mexico City (AICM) nine elephants were being slaughtered in Namibia, Africa.In order to preserve this endangered species, the African Safari company undertook a series of negotiations between governments in order to avoid killing animals, and thus offer a place to live.The company's CEO, Frank Carlos Camacho, said that after five months they managed to combine the will to make the move to Mexico where they will be given a space for them to grow and reproduce in the conservation park located in wildlife the state of Puebla.He explained that elephants in Namibia, are threatened because they are illegally hunted for ivory, a material prized in Asian markets and Europe, besides being caught legally by people who pay thousands of dollars.However, the employer said that the biggest problem faced by these animals is the loss of habitat, as man increasingly invades the areas where they live, moving them to small reservations.In this regard, Frank Carlos Camacho noted that in Namibia there is limited scope for a number of elephants, but when playing and increases the population, left over threatening the lives of those in the area because they consume more food .Therefore, the government has allowed the legal hunting of birth control, however, kill entire families in order to save the rest or the best move you to another place, 'but unfortunately there is sufficient habitat to accommodate them, "he said.He said that these animals, between four and nine years old, were destined to be killed on 13 February, but were rescued by people living near the reserves.African Safari President thanked the collaboration of cargo companies MasAir and Lan Cargo, which made possible the transfer to absorb part of the cost of flights between Africa, Chile and Mexico.In this regard, Luis Sierra, MasAir CEO, said that transport of this weight and miles would be worth many hundreds of thousands of dollars, but to support the cause of a plane diverted its regular route and instead devote it exclusively brought more cargo, which helped reduce the price.



'If folks recall, African Safari was where the Dallas Zoo wanted to transfer their elephant last year, but animal activist's shut the move down, because African Safari was deemed "unsuitable."   Now 9 have arrived from Africa.  Go figure.   I suggest zoo's, like Toronto, that are having relocation issues from the animal activist's should threaten to shoot their elephant's............... '

For Bruce The Clown



Bruce,  your comment came through three times, and in an effort to delete two of them, I deleted all three.  Sorry.  Took a relaxing day off from the stress of wild animal training, and was afforded the pleasure and honor of assisting the folks at Rancho Santa Fe in the moving and vaccinating of 300 calves yesterday, aided by a fine mount named Blanco, ending the day with the best Cecina I have ever eaten.   I don't know how life can get any better than that.

Tom Mix and Tony Revisited



It's too bad today's "movie stars" don't spend more time entertaining children, instead of wasting their time and great resources, with things they know nothing about, namely animals, animal training and captive animal husbandry.

Tom Mix and Tony Revisited















Tom Mix and Tony in Boston with the Sells-Floto Circus

Tom Mix Revisited


 Tom Mix in Boston with Sells-Floto Circus.  Below entertaining at Boston General.   Can you imagine what it was for a child back then to have Tom Mix come to visit?





Tom Mix Revisited





 Compton, Calif.  Date uknown



Tom Mix was the first circus performer in the 1930's to be paid $10,000.00 per week........  I suggest he is the only one.

Tom Mix Revisited


 What relation if any was Erma Ward, pictured above to Mable Ward, "former trapezest",  Tom Mix's third wife?  Or is this Mable pictured?  Photo from the Wisconsin Historical Society.

The Circus "NO SPIN ZONE": Tom Mix

The Circus "NO SPIN ZONE": Ruth Mix--Hamid Circus 1939

Tom Mix Revisited


Interesting account of an accident with Tony stating a wrenched "right leg", yet the picture in the link below show's a broken "left leg?"  Different incidences?   Today's movie cowboy's sure have a cake walk, compared to the Mix era, don't they.

The Circus "NO SPIN ZONE": Tom Mix

Vintage King Bros. Circus 1946














Does anyone know the gentlemen with the "feeding stick?"

Unpleasant Circus History--Sobering To Realize That Not Much Changed From 1946 to 1971......



Lion from King Brothers Circus gets sent to the Florida Lion Country Safari  1971   Note the wheels on the "cage".   From a historical point of view, I am very hard to convince that rag bag junk show's such as King Bros. and many, many others didn't do the most damage and harm to the current perspective of "circus" that the public has in their mind.  Biggest improvement, it seems to me in  was to jam the animals into smaller cages so that they could be cheaply hauled in a semi trailer.   I used similar cages, often with two animals in each cage until 1992 when Ringling Bros. built their first "beast wagon", and only used the transport cages to shift the animals into the building for the performance and back out to the stable and the "beast wagons."   When asked in 1987, by a reporter "do you think your cages are too small?"  I replied,  "they are not my cages, they belong to the circus."   Boy, did I get a ration of shit from the producer for that factual statement.   But reality is, the Trainer took the heat for the conditions, not the producer.  The Trainer had no choice or voice in conditions, regardless of whether he approved or disapproved.  The producer need's to be held accountable in almost all case's.

Enoshima Marineland Revisited


Elephant seal  Daikichi 1964-1977  Enoshima Marineland

Noriko add's that she was very fond of this animal, and inquires whether anyone knows anymore about him.  Ken Kawata, Richard Reynolds, Greg May, Jim Alexander?

Noriko, in case you missed it here is a link to a great bit of elephant seal history in the American Circus courtesy of the incredible RJR(Richard Reynolds)
 
The Circus "NO SPIN ZONE": For Richard Reynolds--Goliath/ Colossus?



 Elephant seal Minazou  1993-2005  Enoshima New Aquarium


Enoshima Marineland main tank before refurbishment.  This gives us a good idea of the size of the tank, at the time the largest in the world.  Noriko add's that she can see the lighthouse in the background from her house.

 Courtesy of Noriko Onoe



From Greg May, King of Aquaria:

"From 1954 - 1964 the largest tank was at Marineland of the Pacific containing 640,000 gallons. Then, in 1964 the Aquatarium opened with a tank containing 1,244,000 gallons. But the biggest tank of all was at Enoshima Marineland in Japan. They had a tank nearly the size of a football field measuring 200 ft. long by 100 ft. wide and 28 ft. deep! It was built mostly in-ground to prevent it from bowing in the center. I believe that tank has since been demolished and replaced with a newer amphitheatre-style pool. I would love for someone to dig up and display photos of Enoshima!"

The Circus "NO SPIN ZONE": For Greg May--Enoshima Marineland