TRUMPETING MAY 2006
Trumpeting is the thoughts, experience and knowledge of Murray Hill and not necessarily that of the ARC or the Board of Directors of the ARC.
HISTORY
I cannot tell you of the history of the circus, animal training or what was done or not done before I became involved so I will only relate what I know and what I have seen first hand or experienced, not heresy.
I first came in contact with exotic animals in 1956 having started with chimpanzees. In 1963 I received my first elephant and from that time forward I have been working with them in every phase except breeding. I have trained and worked with infant bottle babies to full grown bulls.
I first entered the circus with a bottle baby that I had imported and hired a professional to train her. I watched carefully and learned much from him and also the advice from other professionals that were willing to help me. Right from the beginning I noticed that these people that were helping me had a sincere interest in their animals and advised me, as they would do for themselves with their elephants. I found out very quickly it was a 24/7/365 job and there were no vacations. This was the same as when I was working with chimpanzees the difference is that the chimps lived in the house with us, the elephants were in a barn when we were off the road or in a truck or facility that was provided for us when we were on the road performing.
Their manner of training was not brutal, or sadistic but it was a forced situation that was controlled by the trainer. The trainers that were advising me never used clubs or hooks to punish the elephant when they didn’t catch on right away, they just used patience and kept repeating what they wanted from the elephant until they got what they wanted and then well deserved rewards came, not only for the elephant but for the trainer also.
During my chimpanzee period I became interested in zoos, how they facilitated for their chimps etc. Wherever there was a zoo in the towns and cities that I appeared at I would visit the local zoo. This period of time was the middle ‘50’s to the early 60’s before I had any elephants. I found out that most of the keepers had virtually no interest in their charges. I found out that most of them were people that were related to local politicians or people with clout in that town or city, that’s how they got their jobs. In many of the zoos it was disgustingly dirty and the animals showed the lack of interest by their keepers. The animals were in concrete cubicles with a small door way to an outside pen when the weather was permissible. Regardless whether they were inside or outside there was nothing to do. I felt that many of these animals were psychotic due to the lack of anything to do.
March of 1963 I received my first elephant. After several successful appearances with my first elephant with small circuses playing fairs around the country and some Shrine Circuses, I was approached by the local zoo director of the city I was in. He was very much interested in elephants as their zoo had none and he knew a very good friend of mine that was one of the best elephant trainers I knew.
I was very much interested in visiting his zoo to see if anything had changed in the zoo field over several years. This zoo wasn’t too old. It was kept immaculate and after speaking to several of their keepers I was very much surprised to find that all had some sort of animal experience or education. They all showed a sincere interest in their animals. After playing many more cities and towns and visiting more zoos I saw a dramatic change in attitude towards their animals and facilities. Many of these zoos at that time were owned and operated by the local governments and the politicians finally found out that a good zoo was not only good publicity for their area but was a money making proposition.
At this time the circus animal people were the most knowledgeable as to proper care, diet and handling. The zoo people were learning and in some cases circus animal people were hired as keepers to teach the zoo people. In one case a friend of mine was made a very attractive offer from a major zoo. He could get off the road and settle down in one place, the financial offer was appealing and he was beginning to get up in age. He took the job. After he trained their people and elephants, (elephant rides), he was let go.
At this time in history veterinarians were also getting more interested in exotic animals than ever before. They had the patients locally in their zoos and no rush of time to solve problems. As time went by they learned from experience how to keep these animals in better medical condition than ever before.
In many of the towns I appeared in there was always zoo people wanting to know how I taught this trick or that trick. Many of my peers and myself were happy to advise how to train humanely. We kept no secrets as it was in the best interest of the animals in their charge. We worried not that they would hurt our future in the training of their exotic animals; this would take a lot of experience before it would look professional. In one city that I performed at, the elephant man at the zoo called me a week after I had performed their and asked for a job to become a professional. My personal feeling was that the secret to any animal training is consistency not only when training but also in the people doing the training. The problem that I perceived then and today is that zoo personal work 5 days a week and someone else takes over for the other 2 days. In the circus in my generation the majority of animal acts were independently owned trained and performed by one or two people that the elephant could rely on. I’m sorry to say that is not true today as most of the elephants are owned by the circus and hired help to train and work them.
I don’t remember exactly when, either Dec. 1969 or Jan. 1970 there was a meeting in Silver Springs, MD called by USDA to make us all aware that they were charged by Congress to set up rules and regulations for exotic animals. At this meeting the USDA officer in charge asked for the input of all professional animal people as it was needed before they could carry out their job. There was zoo, circus and animal park people in attendance. Many promises were made by them to us and as usual that turned out to be nothing more than pacification of the moment. How quickly our government forgets and goes back on their word.
The first inspectors were accredited USDA veterinarians. In those days they knew almost nothing of what to look for during their inspections. When I was on the road more than once a veterinarian would show up to inspect my elephants and vehicle and their first question was “what am I looking for“. My, how things have changed today! My last few years on the road and inspectors showed up to inspect my animals I found that they knew nothing and invented more ways than I can count to how to write up violations. On several occasions before they saw anything they were reading me the riot act. Thankfully I have never been cited for any of their violations. I guess I don’t expect much from these people that have had some minimal schooling of animals in some field and know how to read a book that makes them qualified to pass judgment on others.
By this time the zoos realized that by working with their elephants they would have a healthier and a friendlier animal. The zoos also had the luxury of local veterinarians that had a sincere interest in their medical and problems. Some of the zoos went in for showing trained animals at their facility which raised revenues. The keepers were more interested in their accomplishments and the mental change of their animals toward people. They also noticed that their elephants were not the big overweight slobs they were before these programs were instituted. They had more to think about other than food.
The next advent was the arrival of the animal activists. They have been around from time and memoriam, but as individuals and posed no real threat. I had been harassed several times for no reason at all. On rare occasions they would show up with a cop demanding that I stop giving elephant rides or whatever it was I was doing. At that time there were no viable laws in favor of the animals and the cop would ask her what I was doing wrong. This was one specific incident, when she told the cop that the elephant told her she didn’t think she should be giving rides the cop laughed and walked away. I would like you all to know that I was the one that actually started elephant rides in the circus although several animal shows preceded me.
Outside of the nuts I ran into there was some responsible animal activists and they did some good by getting a few laws passed that any responsible animal person would not object to as it brought a lot of pressure on the irresponsible ones. But as usual it started to go too far and all of the nuts got into it. They became organized and really presented a problem for the responsible animal people. To this day they still do. “Oh Great White One in the sky, forgive them as they know not what they do”.
When I first started we knew nothing much about the elephants. We did know something about the social structure of the wild elephant but we had captive elephants which we domesticated. It was a rare occurrence for the birth of a baby as we knew almost nothing about the breeding in captivity.
This was also the problem at that time with chimpanzees as the Air Force was trying to breed chimps for the space program. The first controlled breeding of the chimps and elephants was done by circus people. By the time the zoos got seriously interested in the elephants they began to take over the scientific field. I believe the first controlled successful elephant breeding was done by a bull on the west coast. Others followed including my male, Onyx. It was the zoo veterinarian that found a way to keep some of the baby elephants from dying of the herpies. They also successfully performed a.i., (artificial insemination). These are just the start to help keep the species from becoming extinct.
Progress didn’t stop. The next big step was the inception of animal sanctuaries. Some legitimate, some not, but all have their own goals. Some for finances for themselves, some for the betterment of the animals in their charge but all with a specific goal and all have a legitimate argument for their existence. Some have had no prior experience in the animal field, some a little and couldn’t make it as a profession, some successful and retired, some just out to make money and some not related to the animal industry that had the finances to open a sanctuary.
I have not covered this subject completely as I left out some of the animal parks, road side zoos, traveling animal shows etc.
I think instead of progressing for the benefit of the animals we are repeating mistakes made years ago only with a modern twist. We also have the government taking sides and not for the benefit of the animals in question, just for the continuation of their jobs and votes.
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