Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Richard Reynolds!

Among the very interesting comments made by Mr. De Ritis this morning regarding Circus Aeros, he casually mentioned that he has a photo of a group of performing OKAPIS.
I almost fell off my chair.

Posted by Buckles at 8/08/2006 07:12:00 AM

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Richard Reynolds says - - -

I’d like to see that one. I am very doubtful. As is well known the first okapi did not come into captivity in Europe until 1919 (Antwerp zoo - -as would be expected since they are found only in what was then the Belgian Congo). The first one here arrived in 1937 for the Bronx zoo. The animals have been so difficult to obtain and so carefully regulated and their whereabouts so closely monitored that I cannot imagine one leaving a zoo for a circus or animal trainer. The first successful birth and rearing in the Western world did not occur until 1957 in Vincennes zoo, Paris.

If a circus wanted to get an okapi it would have two avenues (1) try to get one directly from the Congo, or (2) from a zoo who had an extra one, perhaps a second male (extra females would always be kept for breeding).

RBBB was interested in getting okapis as early as 1947 when Howard Bary was in the Congo. He tired to get one but failed. Then RBBB agent McCormick Steele finally succeed in 1955 and had one shipped from the Congo to USA for RBBB. However, owing to USDA regulations it could not travel with the circus because the rule prohibited imported cloven hoofed mammals from being sent anywhere but a qualified zoo. A circus could never qualify because of its transient nature. So RBBB sent the okapi to Brookfield zoo with the understating that it could have the first offspring if any. And that did happen in 1959. A cloven hoofed exotic mammal born there in a USDA qualified zoo was permitted to go to a circus. So in 1960 RBBB exhibited a baby okapi but only at the Garden because by then the traveling menagerie was kaput. I got to see the baby at Brookfield shortly before it was shipped to the Garden.

Given all this I cannot for the life of me figure how an okapi here or in Europe managed to become a performing animal. Training should be doable, however, because they are very gentle animals and cannot be equaled for beauty.

08 August, 2006 15:44
Anonymous said...

Wow... Thanks so much for the thorough background info. In 1987,seeking a unique animal to own and train I sought out an okapi. I actually did find one for sale; going price: $82,000. Needless to say, the price was out of my range, so I bought a moose instead (he was fantastic-but unfortunately he expired after two years.) The okapi is a close relative of the giraffe. I currently work an adult giraffe daily, and I can attest to the calm nature of this gentle giant. I would suppose an okapi would be similar. Buckles, and chance on getting hold of that photo?? Thanks

08 August, 2006 17:58
Anonymous said...

Remember me mentioning Jungleland's gin joint, the Tiger Room at the old Rice Paddy? I did fall off my chair--OK, it was a barstool--when Red Hartman's girlfriend, Jan Brusciewicz, walked up to me one night and said, "Roger!! My act! I've decided! Red's gonna help me! No more, no less--THIRTY-FIVE BOBCATS!"

They carried me out.

08 August, 2006 21:10
GaryHill said...

The Dallas Zoo has a very successful program of breeding the Okapi's. They have had more than any zoo around as I understand. Dr. Jack Brundrett was Vet there and with us at World of Animals in the 70's and he was quite proud of the successful Okapi breeding program. He was a very good friend of Dr. Henderson also.

08 August, 2006 22:58
Anonymous said...

To Gary Hill - you are right. From the Dallas Zoo website -

"Okapi. These shy relatives of the giraffe are rare in the wild and in zoos. Dallas is nationally recognized for its success in okapi breeding and behavioral research."

09 August, 2006 13:42
Anonymous said...

Federal Register, Aug. 9, pages 45438 and 45439, Animal Welfare: Elephants -- APHIS is inviting comments in the next 60 days (until October 10,2006) re a petition for new interpretive rules under 9 CFR which they received from In Defense of Animals (which IDA petition was 39 pages of nutty AR rants).

If that sounds like alphabet soup, get someone who understands Washington DC to explain better what to do about it.

You don't have to post this to the blog.

The IDA petition is way more annoying paper than most people have ink for, especially those out on the road, but you never know when bureaucrats will weigh the stacks of letters pro & con and call that a fair vote.

Depending on anyone's mood when they first see the IDA petition, you might be rolling on the floor laughing, or might be in need of a punching bag or two.

Comments have to be sent to APHIS in a format they will count, is the only catch. It would be a shame to have anyone go to the effort of sincerely replying and not get counted, so those picky rules need some attention --

No expert,
Lotliza

09 August, 2006 14:30
Anonymous said...

This is a complete change in subject, but i thought Art Ricker's many friends might be interested in what he's doing since he left Ringling. This is a story that was in the Aug. 8 edition of The Daily Press, published in Newport News, Va. The last time I talked with Art and Joan, they were very happy in Williamsburg.

WILLIAMSBURG -- When Art Ricker first got into the bed-and-breakfast inn business, he heard an industry expert stress that the key is marketing - not restoring a historic house or filling it with antiques.

Coming off 28 years in sales and marketing for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, Ricker said his reaction was: "Jeez, that's right up my alley."

Tourist-dependent Williamsburg has about 36 bed-and-breakfast inns, mostly on designated corridors, with owners bringing a range of backgrounds to bear in running their B&Bs. None have Ricker's experience of selling the so-called "Greatest Show on Earth."

But his approach for promoting his product - nowadays a B&B on Jamestown Road called The Legacy of Williamsburg - differs from when he started working for the circus decades ago.

"My marketing philosophy is you have to do the Web," he said.

The Legacy has an extensive Web site, www.legacyofwilliamsburgbb.com, and a presence on a site billed as a local B&B network, www.bandbwilliamsburg.com. Ricker said about 70 percent of the inn's customers come from the Web and about 20 percent from word of mouth.

"The key is to be accessible on the Internet in as many places as you can be," said Joan Ricker, who co-owns the Legacy with her husband.

In the past, she often joined him on the road with the circus, and at times worked in ticket sales or other circus operations. Their interest in B&Bs was natural, she said.

"We stayed in hotels with the circus for 28 years, so we figured we knew how to run a hotel," Joan Ricker said.

The Rickers follow up their marketing efforts, they said, by focusing on comfortable beds in each room, cleanliness and good lighting. The Legacy also aims for the feel of an 18th-century tavern.

At times, guests really get that centuries-old feel, like during a power outage last week at breakfast time. But Art Ricker said he's learned from his experience with Washington, D.C.-based Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey. The work included a stint entertaining a crowd at the Hampton Coliseum in 1972 when a train derailment delayed the circus.

"With a career in the circus, I was into everything. So I'm pretty easy when something comes that's unusual," he said.

Art Ricker left the circus in 1997. After first running a seven-room lodge in Petersburg, W.Va., the Rickers decided three years ago to downsize and buy the four-room Legacy, which is assessed at $660,700, according to city records.

Joan Ricker said the B&B business is about a "lifestyle change."

"You don't get into a B&B for the money," she said. "You're going to earn a nice living, but you're not going to be rich."

09 August, 2006 21:54
Anonymous said...

To Henry Edgar - Many thanks for taking the time to bring the story on the Rikers to Buckles Blog. They are a great couple and it is nice to see the paper give them a nice writeup.

A few years ago, the Vice Chairman of the company I worked for stayed with them in their lodge in West Virginia and raved about the place.

10 August, 2006 12:31
Anonymous said...

Richard Reynolds says more - - -

Largest group of okapis in USA - - White Oak Plantation on the Florida side of the St. Mary’s River off US 17 (right on the Georgia border) has (or had) the most together in one place at one time. When I was there in the fall of 1997 they had no less than 14 okapis! My wife and I were taken into the wooded enclosure with one of the males. And he let us get right up to him. I have a photo of Delia with him. In a barn we went up to a small calf resting on a nest of hay. The female was out foraging. They leave young calves like that while they go off to eat. The calves do not move or utter a sound; all designed by Mother Nature to protect them from predators, e.g. leopards in their native Congo.

It is really astonishing that an animal the size of a mule could remain unknown to science until 1901. Yet , that is the story of the okapi. Its discoverer, Sir Harry Johnston, found some peculiarly striped strips of skin which he sent back to England, and that led to the discovery. While the scientific Brahmins in Europe were unaware of the animal, it was very well known to the natives of the Ituri Forest area of the Congo and seemingly to some of the missionary types who lived or visited there as well. The word just had not gotten back to headquarters, as it were.

It may seem strange, but until this day the okapi is not on the Endangered Species list. It seems to be rather common in the dense and foreboding forests where it lives. Further it has somehow survived the worst civil war fighting on Earth. Okapi country has been in almost constant turmoil since the Belgians withdrew in 1960.

10 August, 2006 13:22
Anonymous said...

I solved the okapi mistery. Checking my memories with my friend's Christian Hamel from France (European leading expert of circus elephants, cats, exotics)..The German equide resulted to be announced as okapi but was in reality a zebroid. The illusion was perfect because mother nature gave them a striped back just as okapis.
I am still looking in my slides for the picture I took at the time...
I am very sorry for the confusion I created, but I am very thankful to everybody for the erudite and interesting pieces of information.

13 August, 2006 12:26
Anonymous said...

White Oak Plantation has 5 male and 9 female okapis.

18 April, 2008 11:38

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