Nicolai Pavlenko

Courtesy of Marco Kristen

I remember when this act won a "gold clown" at the Monte Carlo Circus Festival, the year the Russian Government sponsored most of the act's and paid for the awards. When it was announced as winning gold, there was a major uproar in the MC festival fan community, when it was discovered that the animals were declawed, and kept in illegal cage's out behind the chateau. When I suggested to some in the circus, that the training methods were suspect, I was chastised for being jealous for not being "invited" to participate in a MC Festival(actually I was, twice, but turned it down for reasons well know). These "animal training experts" from my industry pointed out in no uncertain terms that, "he only uses one small stick!!!!." When I pointed out that, "he probably threw the other one at the poor tiger's", they turned in disgust at my impudence, and continued signing autographs for the folks. Note 1.10 in the above clip.