Old circus cage wagons are beautiful, truly beautiful when pulled by a team of horses. Certainly deserving of a museum, like what we have in Baraboo, Wisconsin. But that is all they are. They have no functionality or practical purpose for the keeping of felines today. Unlike the Feline house at Lincoln Park, which can be adapted to conform to modern husbandry practices and philosophy's, it is what it is, a beautiful piece of yesterday cherished, but not pined for.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Beautiful works of art---Functional long ago
Posted by
Wade G. Burck
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2 comments:
Wade, why is this style inferior to what is used now? Seems more roomy than the regular transport cages. Is it the wooden floors? Harder to clean? What do you think about the European style cages, where there are often several animals in a bigger cage versus single animals in seperate cages? I'm assuming that yours and other American acts use the larger wagons when working there. And visa versa. How big of an adjustment is it for animals to go through a chute rather than directly into the arena?
Kim
Kimberly,
That is an artists rendering from 1901. Yes it was wood, and yes harder to clean, but easier on the animals then concrete. You describe a beast wagon, which is what you are looking at here only modernized. Small divided sections/divider/doors for feeding, which are removed, as we do here in American then the animals have a larger space. If you have ten animals that don't get along, you have ten small cages like a beast wagon with section/dividers. If you have ten that do get along, you have one big cage with ten animals in it, as the sections/dividers/doors are removed The larger cages 8X8 are beast wagons cut up into 5 cages instead of a beast wagon with dividers. More of an adjustment to go through a chute. A beast wagon because of it's size stays outside the tent and need a chute. The smaller beastwagon/cages we use here to go into the building does not require a chute. What do you think of Arruzza?
Wade
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