Saturday, June 17, 2006

How to oil an elephant #3


Now once again upright, you check for all the places you missed and the final thing to do is wipe away all the beads that might gather on the elephants stomach. If allowed to remain, a water pocket might develop.

Dr. Dan once mentioned some Zoo elephants he was attending that had water pockets the size of footballs from having just been oiled. I explained what had happened and that they would slosh around and eventually go away, quicker if excercised regularly.
He had a problem with this and later said he had conferred with several other Vets and they agreed that my Hypothesis was impossible.

Posted by Buckles at 6/17/2006 06:27:00 AM

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mr. Woodcock,

Where you able to locate the photograph of the Frank Bostock trick elephant,
"Jolly",
ca.1899?
I know his keeper had been Matthew Johnson.
What became of Jolly?

17 June, 2006 14:49
Anonymous said...

I wanted to also ask Bob Cline and anyone else who may have any info concerning the availability of any of the Selig Polyscope Productions
that still may exist,that starred the famous lion tamer
Captain Jack Bonavita,
who became the director of the Selig zoo not too long after
Dreamland at Coney Island was destroyed by fire around 1910.
Reportly Captain Jack Bonavita acted in,but also directed some of the two-reelers from around 1913-up until 1917,when he was killed by a polar bear doing stunt work on
THE WOMAN AND THE BEAST(1917).

17 June, 2006 16:37
Bob Cline said...

Kenton,
Jack Bonavita, was born John F. Gentner in Philadelphia in 1866. Having became the well known animal trainer for Frank C. Bostocks shows, he had his favorite Lion "Baltimore" grab his arm for no apparent reason in 1901 which ending up in his arm being amputated some time later. He did in fact leave after the Dreamland fire at Coney Island on Friday May 26, 1911 and head for "Hollywood". "Hollywood" came in the form of Bayonne, New Jersey primarily where he did most of his work for a film company entitled Centaur Film Co. They also bought an European animal circus and brought it in it's entitety to America. By 1933 they were broke and sold out to Universal Studios. From 1913 to 1916 Jack in appeared as an actor in 17 films always listed as Jack Bonavita and His Bostock Animals . He directed many of these. He became a director of films in 1915 only, directing 9 films in the same year. In 1917 he was given the credits as the animal trainer and stunt person in the THE WOMAN AND THE BEAST. He was killed during the filming on March 19, 1917 while working with a group of polar bears. This film being produced by The Graphics Film Corp. was released under a different title of THE MAN SHE MADE. Of his work with Centaur Film Co. only A KAFFIR"S GRATITUDE remains intact with all others being considered lost.
Bob

18 June, 2006 08:08
Anonymous said...

Do you think there is any chance of some company releasing
A KAFFIR'S GRATITUDE
on DVD?
If only for its historical value.

22 June, 2006 15:51
Anonymous said...

Bob Cline,
The European circus you mentioned
was no doubt Bostock's Animal and Jungle show,that was evicted from their London Exhibition rooms in August 1914,due to military reasons
(Britain entered WWI,Midnight August 4.1914,when Germany invaded Belgium)
Two elephants and 57 lions were sold to David Horsley for $40,000.
It cost him $15,000. to ship them from London to Brooklyn,NY then on to Los Angles.

22 June, 2006 15:57
Anonymous said...

Make that,
"Two elephants and 58 lions".
Thats a whole lot of lions!!!
I wonder how many of those lions were dispersed to zoo's and circus's around the country and how many were sent to the Selig zoo.

29 June, 2006 17:46

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