| This set of pictures from Scott of "Amy's" calf, (Miss Betts) tend to disprove the claims from the PETAphiles that the tricks elephants perform in the circus are unnatural. |
Thursday, January 22, 2009
"Miss Betts" #1 (From Scott Riddle)
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13 comments:
Buckles,
Great photos, kudos to Mr. Riddle and family. Seen recently, on a bull haulers trailer, which frequently pass through the little "cow town" I live in--"Save a cow, eat an activist"! Just about says it all.
Erik Jaeger
Adorable, just like her mother!
Erik: Love the "Save a cow..." comment. Reminds me of the "T" shirts that read, PETA...People Eating Tasty Animals.
NJ Meadowlands Fair had a great slogan a few years ago, have to find it and send to Buckles.
Paul G.
Our News Anchor was the Honorary Ringmaster for the Red Unit last Friday evening at the Amway Arena in Orlando. As I was walking up to the admin office to meet him I was approached by a nice looking young man who wanted to "provide me with some information" on how the Circus' elephants were really treated. Well, needless to say I told him that I was a former elephant handler for Ringling and I know EXACTLY how the animals are handled and cared for, and how I wished I had the amenities that they had:
Custom built home with free rent
Free lifetime healthcare
24-hour security
All the food I could eat
Unlimited clean water
Exercise daily
A host of servants dedicated to their total well-being!
So he retorted by saying "then you know how many of them die... how do you explain that?" I referred him to our local hospitals and asked him if he had statistics on how many people die from natural causes? Any way, he really pissed me off and I told him he needs to get his facts straight before he distributed propaganda. I regret not taking the information. I would have put it in the trash and it would have been one less piece of crap to be floating around out there.
Idiots!
:-)
Cindy Potter
My wife always wanted to wear her mink coat when PeTA showed up, so she could tell them that the minks died way before they were born.
One day in NC, I was taking pictures of PeTA protesters and the young lady asked why I was taking her picture. I told her it was for my album of uneducated college people who had never visited any zoo or circus to see if the lies were relly true, rather than taking the course and getting paid for picketing with out every finding out if the lies were the truth.
Bob Kitto
Cindy, I had one of them AR goofs do that to me outside of Reunion Arena in Dallas about 15yrs ago! I ripped into the lot of them in front of about 50 people standing in line and I got appause as they walked away with their heads hanging! If you get a chance to confront any of them again, ask them about the dumpsters full of dead dogs and cats PETA rescued then killed and left to be hauled to the dump?
At what age can we expect to see Miss Betts jump up on one of those revolving things and press into a hand stand?
My little show, the Yankee Doodle Circus, has had numerous animal fanatic protesters outside our venues.
This is how we handle it -- several of the circus staff who are armed with cameras, video and still, plus me with my official clip board and legal pad -- we spread out along the sidewalk and start taking photos of the PROTESTERS and ALL THE CARS in the immediate area!
We make it a point to lower the cameras downward to capture the image of the license plates...I supervise and take notes.
When the fanatics ask me what we are doing I reply, "My attorney wants me to document everybody who is protesting and their motor vehicles so when we file a lawsuit we have proof that you were here. --- I pause --- then ask, "How do you spell your name, exactly?" I continue, "You are here protesting me and I am here protesting you. God Bless America!"
You can spot a fanatic's car fairly easy -- they have brochures and posters scattered in the back seat.
One time we had a real nut-job group, so I set up a video camera AND tripod and paid a high school kid to sit in a chair and watch them all afternoon. Previously, I told them that if they make one wrong move or attempt to interfere with my right to conduct business OR cause harm to any of my trucks that I would have them ON TAPE and their ASSES would be in jail before midnight tonight.
It takes CHUTZPAH!
To add my little bit to these other fine comments....
Whenever I'm asked why I'm taking pictures I tell them I send them to the FBI who keeps a file on terrorist organizations.
I think it was Shannon who first suggested to me years ago to take photos of license plates. I have not yet videoed these aberrant activists, but many others around NY/NJ have.
Lastly, I'd like to pay tribute to "The Albany Gang" in NY, who, through the leadership of people like Gordy Turner and Steve Partyka have got protesting the protestors down to a science and have done SO much, as has Don Horowitz out on Long Island.
I am proud to be a fellow fan and I thank you for all you have done and continue to do for that which we all so dearly love, the Circus and especially the Circus with animals.
Paul G.
My first time writing to a blog.
I just got off the phone with my husband who is at work, I read to him Mike Naughton's post and we had a big laugh.
We are longtime fans-followers of Yankee Doodle Circus and Mike Naughton and his family. What strikes us so funny is that Mike Naughton who is well-spoken, well-dressed, very courteous and a gracious host and we know he is a street-smart New Yorker who does have the "chutzpah" to confront those protesters with his very direct and effective approach.
A few years ago we attended a circus fan gathering where Mike's daughter, Margaret, was the guest speaker. A recent graduate from college, she was also well-spoken, poised, very knowledgable and so very entertaining with her stories of life as a circus kid. She and her older sister, Katie, and their younger sister, Elizabeth are most definately their father's daughters.
Margaret has us roaring with tales of selling Cotton Candy in the buildings in Canada and dealing with the Canadian currency when she was 14 (coins are "loonies" I recall) to her recent experiences as an intern for Feld Company in New York City where she attended college.
Just thinking of Mike Naughton with a clipboard and paper asking a protester for their name (with the correct spelling) and then telling them that their a** would be in jail if they disturb his business is a vision we will have in our heads forever! We enjoy the blog and everyone's entries, it makes us see a different angle of circus that we would never have known. I am so impressed with everyone's resiliency in dealing with so many obstacles, circus folk are a very special bunch of people. Please continue to share your memories and tales, it makes our cold and grey New England days a little brighter.
Gary:
Excellent!
Believe me if I HAD an AUDIENCE I would have been more verbose!!!
Even the average person notices that there are 10,000 people in the Arena who paid to see the show, and "3" people outside "protesting..."
:-)
Cindy Potter
I have a good one. I was doing a date in NJ with LE Barnes. There was a PeTA protesters taking photos of the elephants. Fun part about is everytime he was ready to take the shot a full clown face was in the photo.
Forwarding gathered information to Homeland Security is not a bluff nor unwarranted.
They are considered a terrorist organization and a threat to life and property.
The fire bombings of a scientist's home has not gone unnoticed. The researchers had children at home. Their field of research was on insects.
Indecent exposure is the most recent tactic. Local police can charge them with that as well as blocking means of egress under fire codes.
I could write a book about the adventures with my father. He has his "systems" for everything in the business.
Here is one of many, many funny moments. At the beginning of the tour we stock up on concession supplies and I emphasis we fill the stock truck (24ft).
He assembles 3 teams and we invade one of the large box wholesale clubs. Each team takes one of those low platform dollies and with "the list" and the "pay no more than price list" we invade the store.
Not only does my father know the price of sugar per pound for this year he knows what is was 5 years ago and he can quote the article in the Wall Street Journal on sugar subsidies, etc.
If a team comes across a "commodity" that is above his "pay no more list" they have to cell-phone him, he is at the front waiting for the teams to get back to the register, and he gives the yes or no to the higher price.
OK-this one year my team has 500 pounds of sugar (50 - 10 pound bags, 38 cents per pound) on the dollie, while waiting at the register the woman in front of us remarks, "Are you going to buy all that sugar?"
With a straight face and without missing a beat, my father replies, "We are going to make an apple pie."
I hope this is as funny in print as it is when I tell it live and in person.
I
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