Friday, April 02, 2010

Havemann_Richard_raubtierschule


Richard Reynolds says - -

In answer to the question, "Who was Havemann?," I found this photo on the Internet along with these quotes:

February 21, 1943, San Diego Union, A-1:2-4. Richard Havemann, 68, San Diego Zoo animal trainer, dies of wounds received while saving San Diego Zoo worker from bear.
From The New York Times, same date:
SAN DIEGO, Calif., Feb. 20 (AP) -- Richard Havemann, 68, animal trainer, died in a hospital today of injuries suffered when a 3-year-old Himalayan bear he had trained since it was a cub clawed him in a sudden attack at the San Diego Zoo Dec. 11. Among American zoos for which Mr. Havemann had worked were those in St. Louis and the Bronx.

Posted by Buckles at 4/02/2010 06:07:00 AM

3 comments:

Jim A. said...

Richard Havemann trained a sea lion act at the St. Louis Zoo in 1933. It had five animals and they did some impressive tricks. It must not have gone over because it wasn't offered in 1934.

I don't what all Havemann worked with in San Diego beside bears but no doubt he worked with sea lions. The act was presented in the Wegeforth Bowl Arena where animal shows are still presented. The building had an old boiler heating system at least into the 1990s. I was visiting one day in the early 90s when the boiler was warming up complete with squeaks, squeals, and groans. A trainer friend surprised me calling, "the bear got Havemann." Tacky humour but at least a sense of history.

02 April, 2010 20:34
Roger Smith said...

My God, when they put a net over this cage, they weren't kidding.

04 April, 2010 17:23
Paul Havemann said...

Richard Havemann trained and worked with lions, leopards, and tigers; the bears came later. Havemann's Trained Animals played vaudeville houses from Luna Park to Virginia, and from DC to Indianapolis. Later he got that fateful job at the zoo.

A 1926 article notes that he sometimes had a hard time getting food for his animals. They preferred horsemeat - but when the local farmers learned of their animals' fate, they often cancelled the sale.

BTW, for the record, that photo originally appeared at my Havemann.com website.

03 June, 2010 21:36

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