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peter · 12-07-2015, 07:45 PM

LIONS, TIGERS, FIGHTS AND TRAINERS - III

d - Trainers

Most trainers got involved in animals when they were quite young. Some were related to trainers, but most, as far as I know, were not. Some of these 'outsiders' started as visitors in zoos, whereas others became interested after visiting a show. After watching the animals they had selected for years and reading all books they were able to find, some of them concluded they still had the motivation needed.

Most animals trainers didn't go the college and then they did in that they worked for years to get to the knowledge needed. When they thought the time for action had arrived, they approached established trainers. Not seldom, they met with rejection. The most motivated tried again later and some were hired. They started as cage hands, slowly working their way up. Not a few worked with dogs and horses before they got a chance to work with big cats.

After many years of hard work, some got the chance to work with big cats. Some were noticed and had a great career, whereas others were hardly noticed. Some wrote about their experiences, but the great majority did not. Many trainers tend to keep to themselves. There are many reasons, but public opinion could be one of the most important. In the last decades, it slowly but surely turned against the circus. Many regarded the circus in general and animal trainers in particular as obsolete monuments of the past.

Pressure groups became ever more active. Journalists and politicians were approached. Those unwilling to cooperate were intimidated. In the end, to keep a long story short, it had an effect. In quite many countries in the west, laws were passed. Over here, a circus is not allowed to have 'exotic' animals anymore. As a result, one circus went bankrupt. Those who suffered in particular were the 'exotic' animals (many were euthanized) and the ones who worked with them.

e - Books and interviews

Some trainers, as said before, wrote books. The best one I read was 'Die hohe Schule der Raubtierdressur' (Hans-Jürgen and Rosemarie Tiede, Germany, 1997, 448 pages). Although only 59 trainers (...) feature in the book, about 4000 (...) trainers were interviewed. To say that the book has a wealth of information would be an understatement. Many of the famous trainers discussed by posters feature in the book. Hans-Jürgen Tiede, by the way, was an assistent-trainer himself in both Germany and the US (bears, lions and tigers).

The other books I read (including Beatty's 'Facing the big cats') were interesting as well, but I consider them as 'case-studies'. I posted some of the anecdotes some years ago (at AVA), but do not consider them as typical. When you want to know about 'typical', you have to read as many books as you can. There is, of course, another way to get to information.

Many moons ago, when playing somewhere, I met someone who knew I was interested in big cats. He had invested heavily in a large circus, knew much more than I did and adviced me to contact a few trainers. I did, as he had the keys to open the doors. In the years that followed, I interviewed a number of well-known trainers and one director of a training facility for big cats. He was the one really doing the training and had handled hundreds of bears and big cats. If there was one who knew about interactions between captive big cats and bears, it was Klant Hagenbeck.

Later, I visited a big cat facility. I got along well with the director and often visited his expensive paradise. He was the one who offered me the opportunity to measure and weigh a number of big cats. We often talked for days. I also interviewed him, as he had seen much more than others. One day, he contacted a well-known trainer to develop an activity-project for the big cats. He also was interested in an interview. Some time before we got together, however, he was killed by a tigress in a circus somewhere in Italy.
Apart from that, I interviewed trainers hired by a circus that visited my hometown most summers. All trainers I interviewed had had mixed acts, but only a few had seen serious fights. The reason is they had a lot of experience with male lions. In order to prevent problems, they had decided to take measures. The result was zero fights.

Fightwise, the one with most experience was from the UK. I met him quite by accident when I visited a circus intending to interview the trainer. She wasn't interested, but someone else was. I asked him to explain the situation, as I didn't understand what was going on. He said she was a performer (a good-looking woman, she was), whereas he was the assistent. He was hired to prevent problems, because she was working with male lions. And his trade was lions. His name was Tony Hughes.

f - Tony Hughes

The interview with Tony Hughes lasted for two days. When we met, he was in his forties. Thick-set, powerful and fit, Tony was. He needed to be, as male lions want a tough guy at the top. Friendship, experience and ability are not enough when you work with male lions. You need something else and Tony had plenty of it. He had a lot of experience with male lions, as he was educated by Marcel Peters (a well-known lion trainer).

He had quite a reputation as he had assisted many trainers over the years. One of them in particular, Graham Thomas Chipperfield, had a lot of respect for Tony, as he saved his life.

When he was attacked by a male lion and dragged through the arena like a doll, Tony stepped in with a whip and a steel pole in his hands. The lion wasn't impressed and neither were the others, who had come over to investigate the prey of male lion 'Sheeba'. Tony used the fork to push the male to the edge and Graham Chipperfield, by then unconscious, was released. When he realized his prey had been taken, the lion came for Tony. Standing over Graham Chipperfield, Tony refused to retreat and kept him at bay. Graham, to keep the story short, was saved and there's no question that it was Tony's courage that made the difference for Graham ('Die hohe Schule der Raubtierdressur', pp. 59-60).

Tony could have had his own act, but he was in high demand as an assistent and was fully booked when we met.

g - Fights

I asked Tony about his experience with fights. He told me he had seen many. As I did not want to have an effect on the answers, I gave him a questionnaire I had prepared. We agreed to meet the next day. When I returned, I didn't read the answers. We continued where we had left and talked all day. Before moving to the scans, I will summarize the most important answers first. All answers, to be sure, were roughly confirmed by other trainers who had witnessed serious fights. They were also confirmed by the two directors I mentioned:

g1 - What will happen in an arena when 5 male tigers and 5 male lions of similar size meet?

Male lions will team up and attack the tigers one by one. Sometimes, two male tigers will be attacked separately by 2-3 male lions. As the other tigers will not interfere (they do not cooperate, because tigers are solitary animals), each tiger attacked faces multiple opponents. Only the most able and most powerful will survive the unslaught, but not without injuries. When the fight is not stopped, the lions will continue until all tigers have been routed, wounded or killed.

g2 - And what about 5 lions and 5 bears of similar size?

See the previous answer.

g3 - What will happen in a one-on-one between animals of similar age and weight?

Depends. There's no consistent winner.

g4 - Is aggression and skill in a fight a result of species or individuality?

Individuality all the way.

g5 - What about Beatty's experiences?

Beatty created conditions that favoured male lions.

g6 - Was he wrong all the way?

Beatty had to be preferenced for reasons of his own.

I could continue on Beatty for some time, but Tony, raised with lions, had a strong opinion on him. Beatty had been attacked by a tiger and was saved by a lion. He also told me that some of Beatty's male lions had been killed by male tigers. I will continue on Beatty after the scans.

h - Scans of the questionnaire

The handwriting is Tony's. The fat parts were added during the interview by a friend: