Lockhart and the Performing Animals Act 1925

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I was recently shown a link to an interesting academic paper about racism and animal abuse in an historic context. The paper, "Racial Prejudice and the Performing AnimalsControversy in Early Twentieth-Century Britain" by David A. H. Wilson of the University of Cumbria,  makes an interesting argument for the way racist ideas were common among both critics and defenders of animal trainers. Amid the all-too-familiar arguments on both sides we note that there are also the usual racist arguments heard today. Fear of losing work to immigrants is just below the surface of certain protestations. This, however, is combined with the bigotry common at the time. For example, species of animals are compared to different races of people and being post-World War I Germaphobia is a hot tactic. Interestingly animal rightists, who these days tend to cite the odd notion of speciesism as an extension of racism, also make a distinction between foreign trainers, who they consider to be cruel, from British trainers.

The Bouncer Wagon: A Uniquely English Invention?

Towards the end of the 19th century European circus saw the gradual decline of wild animal acts being presented inside "beastwagons" (mobile caged containers, now used on circuses just as sleeping quarters) in favour of the new caged arena style acts. However, there would be one last hurrah for these types of act, an invention that came out of the early part of the 20th century, known as the “bouncer wagon act” (aka the “bouncing lions”). Above there is a picture of a beastwagon that would eventually be used for this purpose. The act pictured is the sometimes confused “Posing Act” which is the original type of trained wild animal act presented in the beastwagons. My grandfather, Dick Chipperfield Snr., stands on the outside whilst Carol Caldwell presents the act inside. The act was presented on Chipperfield’s Christmas Circus in Bingley Hall circ.1961/62 and was televised and shown on Christmas Day.

Prior to the posing acts, animal “trainers” of the 19th century wore armour and virtually fought with the wild animals. In many respects the bouncer wagon harked back to these days albeit in a far safer and more humane fashion. The bouncer wagon act was a highly trained and energetic routine, where lionesses raced around, up the sides and even on the ceiling of the wagon.

My grandfather saw perhaps the first ever bouncer act. He also rescued his brother's father-in-law, Tommy Purchase, from a savage attack by a lion in a wagon just like this one. This was not a bouncer wagon act; it consisted of two male lions that posed while Rosie, Purchase’s daughter, danced between them. After this presentation the bouncing act was done with a single lioness called “Old Vic” who worked in just a quarter of the wagon. The rescue made front page news at the time. Sadly Purchase, an amputee, who presented the act with a wooden leg, died soon after from a gangrenous infection caused by the wounds sustained in the attack.

Our sources indicate and it was the opinion of journalist, circus historian and amateur wild animal trainer, Eddie Campbell, that the bouncer wagon act was a uniquely English invention of the early 20th century. There does not seem to be any evidence of the act existing prior to "Captain" Tommy Purchase. My father, also a circus historian and a well-respected wild animal trainer, said "I am sure he was the first, although Tommy Day could have pipped him to the post". He then added "Apart from Eddie, the Chipperfields (Dick Chipperfield Snr, Dick Chipperfield Jnr, John Chipperfield and Terry Duggan), Tommy Day and Tommy Kayes nobody else did it. All the acts from ‘Bostock and Wombwelle’s’, ‘Biddel’s’, ‘Sedgwick’s’, ‘Mander’s’, ‘Anderton and Roland’s’ only did posing acts with a few tricks, no running up the walls, which defines the true bounce. “Captain” Tommy Kayes was undoubtedly the best, with one lion and two lionesses. I have seen some footage of him and it was absolutely fantastic." Kayes also had a caged arena set up to the same dimensions as a beastwagon to perform the bouncing routine. Pathe News has footage of it on their archive site under "Manchester Can Take It", where it is featured at Belle Vue.

Dad also spoke to Tommy Day's son who told him about his father's act:

"[it] concluded with him jumping out of the wagon and leaving the door open. The lioness then stood and roared at the audience out of the open door. I actually achieved this as well when I attempted to train the act, but had a few mishaps, so best left it out".

Family politics prevented my father from presenting the bouncer wagon act. My uncle Dicki (Dick Chipperfield Jnr.), presented the act when he was just 15 and was actually televised doing it. There are some who say that he did when he was 14! Chipperfield's were forced by the authorities to terminate his performance on the basis of his age. John Chipperfield, Dicki’s uncle, took over the act before it was passed onto Terry Duggan. Clem Merk, one of the “house” animal trainers, also attempted to work the act, but despite his impressive background presenting fast-paced lion acts he did not adapt to the bouncer style. He was knocked down a few times in rehearsal and he never worked the act in front of an audience. It would appear that the bouncer wagon act was an art all of its own. Dicki would work it again in 1964 and then when his family’s circus toured South Africa, 1964-67. After this, however, there are no records of anyone else working the bouncer wagon act again.

Postscript: In 1972 Dicki and my father attempted to resurrect the bouncer wagon act an American TV show. Work even began on building the wagon, but it was left unfinished when the contract fell through for financial reasons. In 1987 Ringling Brothers Barnum Bailey Circus asked my father to resurrect the bouncer wagon act again for their 1988 season as a prelude to his 14 lions in the caged arena, presented by Larry Alan Dean. The wagon was to be pulled around the track by an elephant. Dean would perform the act and then go straight into his caged arena performance. However, it was deemed impractical and the act was substituted for a single lion posing with his paws on the pedestal. Sonia Allen, “The Lady of the Lions”, presented the last of the fairground lion shows. These were posing acts in a beastwagon. The act was eventually sold to Sanger’s Circus in 1955.

Review by CFZ

A kind review of my first book,"The Legend of Salt and Sauce", was published in the most unlikely of places, issue 44 of "Animals and Men" last summer. The magazine is connected to the Fortean group and has a website http://www.cfz.org.uk/ dealing in zoology and cryptozoology. Being a sceptic the last time I read about the Forteans was in the now classic "Fads and Fallacies" written by Martin Gardener.

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Nevertheless, I also used to read Fortean Times and was often impressed by their journalism - there was a thorough debunking of Sawney Bean for example. CFZ assure me that there is a wide scope of contributors to their website (from the scientifically sound to the wildly esoteric) and asked me whether I would blog for them, which is something I would be happy to do. Here is their review, for

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which they have kindly allowed me to reproduce:

The Legend of Salt and Sauce: The Amazing Story of Britain's Most Famous ElephantsBy Jamie Clubb and Jim Clubb

Paperback: 148 pages Publisher: Aardvark Publishing Language English ISBN-10: 187290436X ISBN-13: 978-1872904368 Salt and Sauce were two Asian elephants owned, for a while, by the elephant trainer George Lockheart. They had been wild caught in the 1890s and brought by the legendary animal dealer Carl Hagenbeck.

They were part of a group of performing elephants known as the 'Cruet', others being called Pepper, Mustard and Vinegar. What made Salt and Sauce so special is the conflicting stories about their nature and the long life they spent together in zoos and circuses under differing owners. Ultimately they caused the death of two of their owners.

Father and son team of Jamie and Jim are well known in the zoo and circus world as experienced keepers, trainers and zoo historians.

In this unique book they have tracked down old photographs and records of the animals throughout their lives. They also interview folk who had first hand knowledge of the animals.

Some recall the beasts as unpredictable and dangerous, other as placid and loveable. What was the real story of the elephants that were known to have killed two men? Were they panicked into such actions, were the animals genuinely aggressive, or was it a case of poor training?

As a zookeeper myself and one who has lost a friend through an elephant attack, this proved to be a highly interesting book. Not only for looking into the circumstances behind the two incidents, but for the long and engaging story of the career of the elephants who were still working in the 1950s.

All in all a remarkable book in the same vein as David Barnaby's 'The Elephant that Walked to Manchester'. A must for all interested in zoo and circus history. RF

Who was Wilhelm Philadelphia?

The expression "celebrities in their day" can be aptly applied to many of the characters I have researched for my upcoming book "The Legend of Salt and Sauce". The two elephants themselves were described in one objective contemporary book as currently the most famous elephants in the UK when barely a decade later, Sauce's name was changed to "Jumbo" to garner public attention on Cody's Circus. The name was to be changed back again to Sauce or "Saucy" by Billy Butlin her final owner when she appeared at his holiday camp in Skegness. However, one character who certainly seems to have been well known in his day, but there is little surviving evidence of is Wilhelm Philadelphia. The man has the recognition of being Salt and Sauce's first ever trainer.

In his book "Grey Titan: The Book of Elephants", George Claude Lockhart, the famous ringmaster, described the troupe of elephants his father purchased as being "wild". Apparently the marks of their rough handling in India were visible on their legs. This wildness is given as a reason for why they were so unruly during the 18 months or so his father, George William Lockhart, trained and presented them. The fact of the matter is that George Snr would have had to have been an incredible trainer to put wild elephants through the routine they are pictured doing with him in the short amount of time. There is also one other factor that counts against him being the elephants' first trainer and that is the credited presence of Wilhelm Philadelphia. George Jnr. names him in his book and in other sources as the man responsible for delivering the group of four elephants. Young George also remarks that Philadelphia had previously been injured by elephants and his body contained steel plates as a result.

Other historical information later revealed photographs of Philadelphia pictured with a lion and then we found another piece of compelling evidence - Philadelphia lining up a group of four baby elephants at Hagenbeck's Zoo on a photograph dated 1900. He was clearly a well respected and experienced elephant handler.

The fate of Wilhelm Philadelphia is not clear. Here is the footnote I wrote for "The Legend of Salt and Sauce" on the man:

"I recently discovered a fairly objectively written piece on the keeping of elephants in captivity on the “Elephant Country Web” website http://www.elephantcountryweb.com/ that lists several examples of people killed by elephants. One of these people, according to the article, was Wilhelm Philadelphia. The article states “Ross, the cow elephant, crushed the trainer Wilhelm Philadelphia to death on the wall of her box at the Sarrasani Circus in 1921”. The date, of course, contradicts the archival information we have on Philadelphia’s appearances on Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus".

Carl Hagenbeck: Pioneer

Carl Hagenbeck (1844 - 1913) is described by some as a noted merchant of animals. This is a huge understatement. He was a pioneering trainer who, like the Lockhart trainers featured in my book "The Legend of Salt and Sauce", was responsible for revolutionizing the animal training methods of his time. He also founded zoos in Germany, ran a circus and has a legacy that exists to this day. Hagenbeck is so famous that even his connection with Britain's most famous pachyderms seems superflous to any writings on his career, however, he was the starting point I had to take - along with the Indian tradition of capturing wild elephants - when I began chronicling the life of Salt and Sauce the elephants. Hagenbeck bought the captured Salt and Sauce along with the other future members of George William Lockhart's Cruet and, in spite of George Jnr's insistance that the elephants arrived in England in a wild state, employed the well known trainer Wilhelm Philadelphia to train them. Late in our research my father even found dated pictorial evidence to prove this fact. Below is a draft I wrote up when I considered putting in an appendix about Hagenbeck in my book. In the end I decided against this tangent. However, I hope it may serve as some source of interest to prospective readers of my book. The information was mainly taken from the 1910 edition of Hagenbeck's autobiography "Beasts and Men" and it ends in 1902, a significant year for Hagenbeck and a significant year for the elephants he had delivered to George Lockhart in Brighton.

CARL HAGENBECK

Hagenbeck was born on 10th June 1844. His father was a fishmonger by trade, who also kept a small menagerie of animals. One day a chance incident inspired him to begin a new venture in animal exhibiting and trading. The venture would eventually result in one of the most successful series of zoological parks and circuses in Europe. In March 1848 Hagenbeck explains that his father found six seals in his fishing net. Using the accident to his advantage he decided to exhibit the seals, for a price, at his house in Spielbudenplatz. The success of the seals urged him to travel to Berlin, where he also made a tidy profit showing them to the citizens of the country’s capital. The seals were sold, but the future was paved for the Hagenbeck family and very soon, in 1857, their animal trading company was set up. For a while this business co-existed with their fish trade. Soon they were dealing back and forth with animals from all over the world. Their suppliers included the famous Lorenzo Cassanova and their clients included the legendary showman Phineas T. Barnum.

It was in 1872 when Carl Hagenbeck, who had, by then, taken the reins of the business, first met and sold a consignment of animals to Barnum. He paid £3,000 for them. During the transaction the larger-than-life Barnum explained to Hagenbeck that he had come to Europe in search of new ideas. Hagenbeck recounted to him, amongst other amazing experiences, tales of elephant races in India and ostriches in Africa being ridden like horses. Barnum was so impressed that he even offered the animal trainer a partnership in his business, where he would own a third of the company’s income. The offer was tempting, but he graciously refused. After all the trade in exotic animals was huge in the 1860’s through to early 70’s and Hagenbeck, now a married man with children, had big plans for his own business.

He had grown up through times when westerners were largely ignorant of transporting and caring for non-domestic animals, yet he and his father had learnt through trial and error the safest methods to move and handle them. To begin with the business had been run on a loss and many of their livestock had died or escaped. Gradually, however, they were educated from their mistakes and their persistence paid off. Now in 1872 it seemed like Hagenbeck’s zoological park would never cease making money. This was not the case. A year or so after Barnum’s proposition it seemed that the enthusiastic Hagenbeck might have been a bit too optimistic about his business’s future.

The menagerie his father had begun in Spielbudplatz had finally become too small to contain the ever-growing amount of livestock he was importing. They moved their premises to Neuer Pferdemarkt in Hamburg in April 1874 - and not before time. The mid 1870’s saw the supply of wild animals exceed the demand and now Hagenbeck had to find a solution to his approaching financial problems or face his business going down hill. He needed to branch out in some way.

Like his father before him, Hagenbeck’s idea came from a chance incident. The animal painter Heinrich Leutemann had made an off-the-cuff suggestion that it would be nice to see some reindeer, Hagenbeck was currently importing, accompanied by their Laplander handlers. The idea proved to be a success and the reindeer and their completely innocent native masters captured the fascination of the public. The Laplanders simply looked after the reindeer and were fed and provided for by the Hagenbecks, who used their presence to enhance the animal attraction. The idea of spectacle and exhibition was starting to expand in Carl Hagenbeck’s mind. Soon he was following the Laplander exhibition with American Indians, Eskimos and various other primitive peoples.

In 1880 the animal trade began to show promise again and soon Hagenbeck was back supplying elephants to Barnum and also to his rival Forepaugh in America. Hagenbeck sent his famous travelling agent, the explorer Joseph Menges to begin importing these grey giants, which had now become the most popular attraction in American circus. 1883 saw the Barnum and Forepaugh war claim sixty-seven elephants from Hagenbeck’s. They discovered that their best source for elephants was Ceylon. The Cingalese elephant had, of course, largely escaped the ivory hunter’s bullets because of its lack of tusks and being a sub-species of the Asian elephant, possessed a relatively docile nature. The success of importing elephants from Ceylon gave Hagenback inspiration for a grand display. In 1884 he toured all over Germany and Austria with his Cingalese exhibition, which consisted of twenty-five elephants, a huge variety of cattle and sixty-seven people.

It was not long after this that Hagenbeck revolutionised animal training. As the nineteenth century drew to a close, the public had learnt a lot about animals by being in contact with them. Blood sports such as dog fighting, cockfighting, bear and badger baiting were loosing their mainstream interest and it would not be long before they were made illegal. Humans were becoming more sympathetic towards animals, and Hagenbeck was a staunch advocator of this generation’s philosophy. He invented a system he called “gentle training.”

In 1887 Hagenbeck began his own circus and employed a trainer called Deyerling. He explained to his new employee that he wanted him to train a group lions using his new experimental methods. Up until this stage wild animal acts had resembled gladiator battles with trainers entering cages and spending the majority of their time warding off aggressive carnivores such as the big cats. Animal training was fairly basic and the aggressive methods used by some of the trainers resulted in a large number of them becoming injured or killed. The “techniques” being used, as far as Hagenbeck was concerned, were not only barbaric and cruel, but also stupid. Through being in close contact with various animals and being brought up with a father who had a lot of affection for them, he had learned about their under-rated intelligence and feelings. On a basic level he argued cruelty is repaid by hatred and kindness is more than likely to produce a more positive reaction.

Hagenbeck had trained dogs as part of his research, using food rewards for learning various actions. He believed this system could be scaled up to the larger carnivores and insisted that this was the method Deyerling would implement. During this test period Hagenbeck learnt more about identifying correct characters in animals in much the same way as the Indians do when they assess elephants in their Keddahs. Early on he and Deyerling would be able to predict which animals had the correct temperament for training and which would be the safest.

In 1889 Hagenbeck’s innovative “gentle training” produced its first act. Deyerling appeared on the appropriately named Nouveau Cirque in Paris, France with his four lions performing a varied routine that climaxed with three of them pulling him on a chariot. This style of training would become the foundation for modern animal training and what would become known in the successive century as “positive-reinforcement.”

Meanwhile Hagenbeck had big plans for his new methods. Amongst his new generation of trainers was Heinrich Mehrmann, who was his brother-in-law and was beginning to garner a lot of fame presenting animal acts. He intended to take Mehrmann to Chicago, USA, to demonstrate the new humane method of training at a massive exhibition that was being held in 1893. Together Hagenbeck and Mehrmann produced an act consisting of twelve lions, two tigers, several cheetahs and three bears. This troupe premiered at Crystal Palace, England and was such a massive success that Hagenbeck was offered $50,000 by two Americans for the purchase of the act. He turned the money down and may have regretted it for the animals were soon all struck down by a mysterious disease, which seems to have been contracted from bad meat bought in England. Days after their triumphant performance the whole troupe was dead.

On returning to Hamburg, disease struck Hagenbeck’s animals again and soon an epidemic was spreading through the zoo like wild fire. Eventually it was discovered to be cholera, which was going through Germany at the time, and the illnesses were subdued. The act was eventually assembled for the Chicago exhibition, but Hagenbeck’s problems were not over yet. A cablegram arrived towards the end of 1892 from his agent in America, instructing him to send his act to England to be quarantined for the winter. On hearing of the outbreak of cholera, the United States government had insisted that the animals do this to prevent any spreading of the disease in America.

After completing their quarantine and being transported successfully to Chicago, illness struck the act yet again. This time it was not the animals who had fallen sick, but their presenter. Just before the beginning of the exhibition, Mehrmann was clearly unable to work the act and it was left to 49-year-old Carl Hagenbeck to take on the task. In spite of being out of contact with the animals for five months previously, the act went well and so began the legacy of Hagenbeck’s international animal displays.

The turn of the century saw Hagenbeck’s business grow into a large commercial industry. His animal trading generated a steady income, his acts were an international success and his zoo continued to prosper. The zoo would, of course, soon became too small once again. In answer to this he acquired a four and half acre land in Stellington near Hamburg. Here, with the help of investors, he built one of his most famous establishments and transferred everything he had from Neuer Pferdemarkt to it. Using his innovative ideas, he once again helped revolutionise the humane treatment of animals by improving their living quarters with more space and areas to exercise. This proved popular with the public as well as more beneficial for the animals in his care. He began extensive breeding programmes and continued to make steps in improving animal husbandry. The zoo opened in October 1902 and his future was looking brighter than ever. Hagenbeck would eventually branch out with zoos all over the world and his circus would become world famous.
Hagenbeck was born on 10th June 1844. His father was a fishmonger by trade, who also kept a small menagerie of animals. One day a chance incident inspired him to begin a new venture in animal exhibiting and trading. The venture would eventually result in one of the most successful series of zoological parks and circuses in Europe. In March 1848 Hagenbeck explains that his father found six seals in his fishing net. Using the accident to his advantage he decided to exhibit the seals, for a price, at his house in Spielbudenplatz. The success of the seals urged him to travel to Berlin, where he also made a tidy profit showing them to the citizens of the country’s capital. The seals were sold, but the future was paved for the Hagenbeck family and very soon, in 1857, their animal trading company was set up. For a while this business co-existed with their fish trade. Soon they were dealing back and forth with animals from all over the world. Their suppliers included the famous Lorenzo Cassanova and their clients included the legendary showman Phineas T. Barnum.

It was in 1872 when Carl Hagenbeck, who had, by then, taken the reins of the business, first met and sold a consignment of animals to Barnum. He paid £3,000 for them. During the transaction the larger-than-life Barnum explained to Hagenbeck that he had come to Europe in search of new ideas. Hagenbeck recounted to him, amongst other amazing experiences, tales of elephant races in India and ostriches in Africa being ridden like horses. Barnum was so impressed that he even offered the animal trainer a partnership in his business, where he would own a third of the company’s income. The offer was tempting, but he graciously refused. After all the trade in exotic animals was huge in the 1860’s through to early 70’s and Hagenbeck, now a married man with children, had big plans for his own business.

He had grown up through times when westerners were largely ignorant of transporting and caring for non-domestic animals, yet he and his father had learnt through trial and error the safest methods to move and handle them. To begin with the business had been run on a loss and many of their livestock had died or escaped. Gradually, however, they were educated from their mistakes and their persistence paid off. Now in 1872 it seemed like Hagenbeck’s zoological park would never cease making money. This was not the case. A year or so after Barnum’s proposition it seemed that the enthusiastic Hagenbeck might have been a bit too optimistic about his business’s future.

The menagerie his father had begun in Spielbudplatz had finally become too small to contain the ever-growing amount of livestock he was importing. They moved their premises to Neuer Pferdemarkt in Hamburg in April 1874 - and not before time. The mid 1870’s saw the supply of wild animals exceed the demand and now Hagenbeck had to find a solution to his approaching financial problems or face his business going down hill. He needed to branch out in some way.

Like his father before him, Hagenbeck’s idea came from a chance incident. The animal painter Heinrich Leutemann had made an off-the-cuff suggestion that it would be nice to see some reindeer, Hagenbeck was currently importing, accompanied by their Laplander handlers. The idea proved to be a success and the reindeer and their completely innocent native masters captured the fascination of the public. The Laplanders simply looked after the reindeer and were fed and provided for by the Hagenbecks, who used their presence to enhance the animal attraction. The idea of spectacle and exhibition was starting to expand in Carl Hagenbeck’s mind. Soon he was following the Laplander exhibition with American Indians, Eskimos and various other primitive peoples.

In 1880 the animal trade began to show promise again and soon Hagenbeck was back supplying elephants to Barnum and also to his rival Forepaugh in America. Hagenbeck sent his famous travelling agent, the explorer Joseph Menges to begin importing these grey giants, which had now become the most popular attraction in American circus. 1883 saw the Barnum and Forepaugh war claim sixty-seven elephants from Hagenbeck’s. They discovered that their best source for elephants was Ceylon. The Cingalese elephant had, of course, largely escaped the ivory hunter’s bullets because of its lack of tusks and being a sub-species of the Asian elephant, possessed a relatively docile nature. The success of importing elephants from Ceylon gave Hagenback inspiration for a grand display. In 1884 he toured all over Germany and Austria with his Cingalese exhibition, which consisted of twenty-five elephants, a huge variety of cattle and sixty-seven people.

It was not long after this that Hagenbeck revolutionised animal training. As the nineteenth century drew to a close, the public had learnt a lot about animals by being in contact with them. Blood sports such as dog fighting, cockfighting, bear and badger baiting were loosing their mainstream interest and it would not be long before they were made illegal. Humans were becoming more sympathetic towards animals, and Hagenbeck was a staunch advocator of this generation’s philosophy. He invented a system he called “gentle training.”

In 1887 Hagenbeck began his own circus and employed a trainer called Deyerling. He explained to his new employee that he wanted him to train a group lions using his new experimental methods. Up until this stage wild animal acts had resembled gladiator battles with trainers entering cages and spending the majority of their time warding off aggressive carnivores such as the big cats. Animal training was fairly basic and the aggressive methods used by some of the trainers resulted in a large number of them becoming injured or killed. The “techniques” being used, as far as Hagenbeck was concerned, were not only barbaric and cruel, but also stupid. Through being in close contact with various animals and being brought up with a father who had a lot of affection for them, he had learned about their under-rated intelligence and feelings. On a basic level he argued cruelty is repaid by hatred and kindness is more than likely to produce a more positive reaction.

Hagenbeck had trained dogs as part of his research, using food rewards for learning various actions. He believed this system could be scaled up to the larger carnivores and insisted that this was the method Deyerling would implement. During this test period Hagenbeck learnt more about identifying correct characters in animals in much the same way as the Indians do when they assess elephants in their Keddahs. Early on he and Deyerling would be able to predict which animals had the correct temperament for training and which would be the safest.

In 1889 Hagenbeck’s innovative “gentle training” produced its first act. Deyerling appeared on the appropriately named Nouveau Cirque in Paris, France with his four lions performing a varied routine that climaxed with three of them pulling him on a chariot. This style of training would become the foundation for modern animal training and what would become known in the successive century as “positive-reinforcement.”

Meanwhile Hagenbeck had big plans for his new methods. Amongst his new generation of trainers was Heinrich Mehrmann, who was his brother-in-law and was beginning to garner a lot of fame presenting animal acts. He intended to take Mehrmann to Chicago, USA, to demonstrate the new humane method of training at a massive exhibition that was being held in 1893. Together Hagenbeck and Mehrmann produced an act consisting of twelve lions, two tigers, several cheetahs and three bears. This troupe premiered at Crystal Palace, England and was such a massive success that Hagenbeck was offered $50,000 by two Americans for the purchase of the act. He turned the money down and may have regretted it for the animals were soon all struck down by a mysterious disease, which seems to have been contracted from bad meat bought in England. Days after their triumphant performance the whole troupe was dead.

On returning to Hamburg, disease struck Hagenbeck’s animals again and soon an epidemic was spreading through the zoo like wild fire. Eventually it was discovered to be cholera, which was going through Germany at the time, and the illnesses were subdued. The act was eventually assembled for the Chicago exhibition, but Hagenbeck’s problems were not over yet. A cablegram arrived towards the end of 1892 from his agent in America, instructing him to send his act to England to be quarantined for the winter. On hearing of the outbreak of cholera, the United States government had insisted that the animals do this to prevent any spreading of the disease in America.

After completing their quarantine and being transported successfully to Chicago, illness struck the act yet again. This time it was not the animals who had fallen sick, but their presenter. Just before the beginning of the exhibition, Mehrmann was clearly unable to work the act and it was left to 49-year-old Carl Hagenbeck to take on the task. In spite of being out of contact with the animals for five months previously, the act went well and so began the legacy of Hagenbeck’s international animal displays.

The turn of the century saw Hagenbeck’s business grow into a large commercial industry. His animal trading generated a steady income, his acts were an international success and his zoo continued to prosper. The zoo would, of course, soon became too small once again. In answer to this he acquired a four and half acre land in Stellington near Hamburg. Here, with the help of investors, he built one of his most famous establishments and transferred everything he had from Neuer Pferdemarkt to it. Using his innovative ideas, he once again helped revolutionise the humane treatment of animals by improving their living quarters with more space and areas to exercise. This proved popular with the public as well as more beneficial for the animals in his care. He began extensive breeding programmes and continued to make steps in improving animal husbandry. The zoo opened in October 1902 and his future was looking brighter than ever. Hagenbeck would eventually branch out with zoos all over the world and his circus would become world famous.

©Copyright. Jamie Clubb 2007