 This is the male white rhino (name unknown to me) that Carson & Barnes acquired from Great Adventure in New Jersey in 1993. Note the square mouth, typical of that species. He was obtained in a trade which saw C&B's big male white rhino Goliath go to Great Adventure for this younger animal. Goliath had been obtained by C&B on December 31, 1980 from Gopher Davenport, He, in turn, had gotten him from the Wildlife Safari in Winston, Oregon for use on his 1979 show(s). Gopher's circuses seemed to change their names twice a week.  |
Friday, July 01, 2011
From Richard Reynolds
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9 comments:
This guy was born when I was there in 1976. I named him Dino..then I came back to Circus World..
I recall sometime in the 70s that
Roman Schmidt (Hugo's son) had a
rhino act that didn't do much
Maybe none of them can
wasn't Flavio's rhino here after this one was retired?
Hey Gary I sure hope that Dino
was pronounced "Dyno"
No, Flavio’s rhino was here earlier - - in 1990 and 1991.
This C&B animal toured until sometime in 1996 as best I can figure. According to the late Bobby Gibbs, D.R. Miller traded him to dealer Henry Hampton who, in turn, sent him to the Acadiana Zoo in Broussard, LA. I will have to find out if he is still there.
Roman Schmidt had a black rhino, much smaller than this white. I think it may have been Hugo Schmidt who did the work to break it for the ring. Roman told me that the act was very unusual and hard to produce. However, the promoters of Shrine circuses were unappreciative of that fact and would not pay what it deserved. So, Roman sent it to the Columbus zoo and from there it went to the Dallas zoo.
Roman's black rhino was an interesting animal. It got to the ring collar chained to "Berka" (think that's her name), Roman's very steady elephant. She ran around the ring, climbed up on a tub, the highlight was she showed up. I can understand why it wasn't a popular act w/ producers. I saw it in Indianapolis at the Fairgrounds and she really looked small. The novelty was lost on most people.
Training a white rhino is certainly a challenge but black rhinos are even more difficult. I'm glad I got to see it, I will never see the likes of it again.
Question: Rex Williams trained at least one rhino. I've seen a photo of a young white rhino with some elephants. Did he train a black rhino when he was with Diano?
Richard,
Armando Loyal tells me the second rhino was named Goliath as well - Goliath II. Both were called GoGo - Gogo I and II.
Bret Bronson told me stories about Roman working his black rhino with his African elephant Jenny. Can you tell us anymore about this elephant - when he got her and from where?
Didn't Roman also have a zebra in his act with the rhino?
As I recall, the rhino DR traded was for a giraffe which died on the first jump of the season.
Bob Kitto
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