To Richard Reynolds

I am flattered that Mr. Reynolds thought that I could help in answering his question about Hans Brick. My knowledge of Hans Brick's name is limited to seeing it in connection with animal training, but I don't remember exactly where. Mr. Reynolds' question has certainly piqued my interest. If you would you please convey the following information on Hans Brick to Mr. Reynolds. The original book that Mr. Reynolds refers to "Jungle Be Good" was indeed published in Great Britain in 1960. In 1962, Crown Publishers published an American edition of Hans Brick's book under the title of "The Nature Of The Beast". There is a copy of the American edition currently up for sale on eBay. There is some speculation ! that Hans Brick did not write "Jungle Be Good" himself, and that it may have been written by a close friend, Edward Campbell, a respected British journalist. Mr. Campbell had a passion for the circus and was acknowledged as an authority on the training of wild animals. He even trained a mixed cage act himself, consisting of several lions an a bear, to demonstrate that animals could be trained humanely. A review of "Jungle Be Good" said that the book is more of a primer on animal training than an autobiography of Hans Brick's life. I did a "Google" search of Hans Brick. The Internet offered little information. There was almost no biographical information on Hans Brick. The bulk of the information that I found comes from the text of a lecture delivered by Edward! Campbell in 1971, titled "Some Unusual Aspects of Communication".&nbs p; Here are the few items that I found... He was German born. His family had a tradition of handling and training wild animals. Hans Brick was a gifted animal trainer, and spent the majority his life observing, trapping, and training a variety of animals. During World War II he was interned on the Isle of Man as a German National. In 1943 Hans Brick trained and supplied animals for the production of the Pinewood Studios film "The Dark Tower". I also found what appears to be a statement of Hans Brick's philosophy on animal training..."Breakers and trainers in general are innate animal-lovers. Do not force your friendship on any animal, but make your friendship available at all times". That is the Hans Brick's golden rule. The most interesting item I found was that Hans Brick taught a lion to fetch, just like a dog. He trained his favorite lion, Habibi to launch a "dart" from a spring loaded gun, chase after it, then return with it and lay the "dart" at Hans Brick's feet. Hans Brick died at age 72 on August 22, 1972 in Middlesex, England. There were some inconsistencies in some of the information I found. There was a statement that said his father, an animal trainer was killed by a tiger while at the Nouma Hava Menagerie (Italy) in 1889. If Hans Brick died at age 72 in 1972, the date of his birth would be around 1900. The math there does not add up. Another item said that Hans Brick built the circus at Chessington. The number of animals that were quoted in the fol! lowing sentence, " Stock is 406 mammals in 103 species; 568 birds in 136 species; 28 reptiles and amphibians in 19 and 58 species respectively", leads me to believe that it may have been a zoo and not a circus. As a trapper, maybe Hans Brick supplied the animals for the zoo. I believe Circus Richter is a Hungarian Circus. If memory serves, members of the Richter Family appeared with the Ringling Brothers sponsored tour of the "Monte Carlo Circus Spectacular in 1979 and with Ringling Brothers Circus in 1980-81. The Richters presented two acts, an elephant specialty act and also performed a bareback horse riding act. As far as Circus Novacek, I have nothing. Links to the sources of my information: www.thestage.co.uk/features/obituaries/feature.php/12653/edward-campbell www.i-c-r.org.uk/publications/monographarchive/Monograph2.pdf www.thorpeparkguide.com/features/historycwoa/index.html It is not a lot of information, but it is a start. Since Hans Brick apparently spent a good portion of his life in England, my suggestion would be to contact the British equivalent of the Circus Fans Of America (www.circusfriends.co.uk/) and ask them for any information they might have on Hans Brick. Another possibility, since we know where he died, if you could obtain a copy of his obituary there should be some biographical ! information contained in that. For the Blog...More information on Dieter Farrell...Dieter Farell operates facility in Dassow, Germany, called "Tiger Park". There is a web page for "Tiger Park"...www.tigerpark-dassow.de/. The web page not only contains information on the park, but also bios and pictures of Dieter Farell, his daughter Monica, and his son Rene. The web site is written in German. Stay Well, Henry