Thursday, March 01, 2007

Gosta Kruse with "Safari" and "Birka".

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2 comments:

DanKoehl said...

Is there any more info in this picture, which Circus, which year?

DanKoehl said...

Just for the record, this was probably on Zoo Circus Caravan by Trolle Rhodin.

The elephants were bought from Circus Hagenbeck and were trained by Hugo Schmitt.

Birka and Safari were later sold to Dresden Zoo in eastern Germany.

Gösta Kruse was son to Theodor Kruse, horse trainer and stable master at Trolle Rhodins Zoo Circus in Sweden.

He was elephant trainer on Bertram Mills circus 1951-1965, and trainer at Cirque Pinder in France where he remained until his death July 25, 1973 from a heart attack.

His daughter Yvonne Kruse-Kludsky still performs with the elephant Dumbo in Spain.