Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Patty Zerbini and "Luke" #1 (From Joey Ratliff)


zerbini, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Good Morning Buckles,

Here's a couple of pictures of Miss Zerbini and Luke from the '07 Gold Unit. Good to see she is back for 2008 but I agree she needs a bigger act for her talents.
Joey

Unfortunately this is unlikely to happen since for one reason or another, of the 50 or so elephants in storage at Williston and Polk City, none are road worthy.
That's the reason outside elephants had to be hired in the first place.
Buckles

Posted by Buckles at 1/09/2008 11:33:00 AM

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

I noticed that there is a fog machine at the back door producing a constant haze that accents the lighting effects.

09 January, 2008 18:21
Anonymous said...

Big Apple also uses such a machine.
Dick Flint
Baltimore

09 January, 2008 21:14
Anonymous said...

What do you mean 'not road worthy'. If they were owned by other circuses they would all be on the road. Who determines if they are "road worthy". It seems like Kenneth Feld is getting short changed by his own beauarcrasy.

09 January, 2008 22:42
Anonymous said...

Ringling can afford to, apparently believes in, and must give the best consideration to its elephant care. Some elephants have had difficulty going to the train (they were trucked to the train) and so they are sent to the CEC rather than catch misguided PETA heat. Males and certain females are kept for breeding. Baby elephants are not ready for the road. Etc., etc. And I am sure they want to have enough of the best workers and if it is difficult to find and hire reliably good men, then I am sure they do not want to carry extra elephants and risk an episode that PETA could film. Maybe they are smart to concentrate on breeding and care. In another 20 years, the only elephants on circuses will be those born in captivity. There won't be enough to go around and you'll be thankful to see a herd as big as we see on the gold unit today!!!

10 January, 2008 01:23
Bob Cline said...

Well said Wise old elephant. It's very easy to speak about right now. Few people consider the fact that 60 to 80% ( my guess ) of the Asian elephants in America will not be here 20 years from now. Old age evntually wins in every species. Those being born now, will be all there is to talk about in the not so far future.
Bob

10 January, 2008 06:36
Buckles said...

The Wise Old Elephant had better watch her words, people with that operation have lost their jobs for saying less.

10 January, 2008 08:36
Anonymous said...

I'm sure somebody can correct me, but didn't the EMA conclude several years ago that sustaining the genetic viability of the North American elephant herd (as a whole) would require eight live birth a year. That number of course wouldn't sustain the population in the short term -- though theoretically the or four decades down the road the numbers start to go up again. I think for a couple years now the live birth threshold has been met, but work still needs to be done on mortalities in young elephants. In elephants in domesticity in North America the danger of genetic bottleneck, at least as I used to understand it from AZA's SSP/Elephant looked worse in Africans. Someday if we really want viable managed populations in North American strictly as conservation safe guards, a round of importation would certainly help. Ironically there are at least two Asian countries that may have no elephants left at all in another ten years. One activist group that spends a lot of time attacking zoos (and circuses) seems to have shifted their game plan in the last year, arguing less about standards of elephant care, and trying instead to sell the idea that reproduction in domesticity can only fail because all elephant facilities harbor pools of EEHV. Kind of a silly argument without much science to support it. EEHV certainly lingers in herds, but protocols to manage viral loads in adults to avoid unnecessary exposure in punks doesn't seem impossible.

10 January, 2008 09:25
Anonymous said...

How do you get them roadworthy? Well you take them on the road, or you do what we referred to some fifty years ago and well before that and that is known as 'hard assing"Long walks taileed up. I note that the Polk City place consists of lots of acerage and would be excelleny for "hard assing". Going on long treks every day with a number of elephants involved. Solid ones with borderline involved and a different route each time with stops, line up . long mount, stretch, salute, etc. If some of them blow, no problem its out in the booneys. Maybe they do this, I don't know, but I did it with Gil Gray elephants, CWM, Atayde and when we rehearsed with big Houdis on for movie "Jupiters Darling" we did it daily for a couple of weeks and when we went on the bset with all the excitement everything went fine. I did it with the six Hoxie babies in Miami at Hoxies wntqtrs. by the Miami airport and it paid off for me during the season. But I believe that Polk City herd should be "hard assed every day. I am sure the powers that be will have plenty of reasons why it is not feasable. Its nice to be 77 yrars old and say what the hell uyou desire. In other words I found over the some sixty years that you have to "bite the bullet".

In a non-related subject on a different blog comment I stand corrected about the two different African elephants at Monte Carlo and hope these Casserly elephants perform to perfection. I am not a fan of those specie, so I do not expect too much. Roman riding sounds good for that specie and its all been done before.

10 January, 2008 09:40
Anonymous said...

P.S. In regard to roadworthy. I understand that in Polk City they feed a highly concentrated very high protein mixed feed designed by one of their experts in the field. I would suggest they throw that crap out and give them rooled oats and bran with salt and baking soda mixxed in. Baking soda sweetens the stomache and prevents scours and makes the shit smell good. Then they would not have so many "hyper Babies" ready to climb the walls with eyeballs bulging out of their sockets. I believe that would also help in getting those young elephants "roadworthy"

10 January, 2008 09:59
Anonymous said...

On the subject of Ringling elephants not going out. We all talk about how much better an elephant's life is traveling with a show vs. sitting in a zoo and there is some truth to this about six years ago a mortality study on Asiatic elephants was conducted by Wayne State University and LSU. Of the four catagories (wild, work/logcamp, zoo, circus), it was found that camp elephants live the longest ( current oldest in Thailand is 87), then circus, which out live zoo elephants by 11.4 years. I remember John Kirkland (r.i.p.) of Feld Ent. touting this at an EMA conference.What is the difference between a zoo and a ranch? If you are going to preach about good long lives, you should back it up by getting them ready and send them out. The CEC is a great place and I enjoyed working there. All can't go but some can. The PETA argument doesn't work for me. Those idiots are going to attack no matter where the elephants are. Sometimes I think as a community we play defense to much and not enough offense against these "people". I'll sit back now and wait for my punishment.

Joey Ratliff

10 January, 2008 20:01
Anonymous said...

To J.Herriot;
Once Kari told me that Smokey had her keep Tika as a punk walking a lot every day "What's a lot" I asked? Three to four hours a day, How ever the wording you use "hard assing" I am sure she could really relate to that, as she said she was riding Tika the whole time.

11 January, 2008 12:58
Anonymous said...

Heard a guy with one of the Budweiser Clydesdale units several years ago telling an admirer that the team looked good, but they'd look even better after a month out when they'd had a bit of "hard assing." I believe his comment led to a bit of confusion.

11 January, 2008 16:40
Anonymous said...

Ben,
When there was only a Ringling Circus in Baraboo, they let the horses out to pasture in the winter. Then, as the season approached, they started to hard ass them by driving them around with harnesses and then loads to get them used to the work that they would be doing after they were on the road. Maybe the term isn't PC, but it is what we should be doing to keep ourselves in shape also. My wife shoveled the snow today to try to stay in shape.
Bob Kitto
ps: I was going to do it but she beat me to it.

11 January, 2008 19:18
Anonymous said...

How rude of me"
This is quite a photo I have heard of this gal's efforts and look forward to seeing this act.
P.S.Looks great "Patty"

11 January, 2008 21:30
Anonymous said...

Bob, I think here in America these days we do a bit more lard-assing than hard-assing. Saw a story in the paper today that said obesity is now a "lifestyle choice." No wonder 4X teeshirts are becoming a standard size.

11 January, 2008 22:35
Anonymous said...

Ben, Ben, Ben,
What did you just say!!!! You muat be jelous because you cant wear a 4XXXX shirt. I for one, know a lot of people who are proud to have been asked to wear a 4XXXX shirt.
Wade Burck

12 January, 2008 00:49
Anonymous said...

Maybe a little jealous. Takes big dreams to go that large, and I'm too old to get there. But I'll keep trying.

12 January, 2008 10:31

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