Buckles Blog: #8 Baraboo

Thursday, September 28, 2017

#8 Baraboo

14 comments:

Patricia said...: My first year on Carson and Barnes, 1981, a hippo was carried in the menagerie. I clearly remember the tank smelling awful most of the time. It was irritating since the cat truck was only about 30 feet away on the stake line and I always tried very hard to keep the cats spotless. But the hippo aroma seemed to regularly drift our way. I don't even think a tanker full of Febreze would have helped.; 28 September, 2017 08:36
Anonymous said...: The height of animal cruelty don't you think ?; 28 September, 2017 09:21
Patricia said...: The height? No Frank, I don't. Questionable perhaps.

Ever watch "Animal Cops" (Houston, Atlanta or Detroit etc. choose a city)? Starved horses so skinny there's nothing but hide stretched over bone, overgrown hooves and sunken eyes. Dogs tied in a yard with a chain heavy enough to pull a semi from a ditch; no food, water or shelter. Animal hoarders with 40+ cats or dogs living in filth without care except a bag of food thrown on the floor for them to tear open and fight over. A little dachshund named Pepperoni with an eyeball hanging out on her cheek because her drug addled 'owner' hit her with a hammer.
THIS sort of thing is the height of animal cruelty.
And this rips me apart and makes me cry.

But the hippo? Maybe not so much. I do view it differently now than I once did. After all, she had plenty of feed and shade, and the water was changed daily. But it did stink. I don't know. Looking back, her quality of life was not perhaps what it could have been. I don't know how long she was on the road, but the following year 1982 she had been sold to a zoo some place. Better for her, I suppose.; 28 September, 2017 12:06
4pawfan said...: I think Frank, that the height of animal cruelty would have been the twenty-seven hippos massacred by villagers in western Niger. What about those poor beasts??? Didn't see any of your comments in March when this happened..... Where was the outrage then???; 28 September, 2017 18:41
Anonymous said...: You try to have it both ways in your comments. You say you see it differently now and then say it was not so bad for the hippo. Which is it?
Citing dog cruelty and 27 Wild hippos killed does not make keeping an adult hippo in a tiny, dirty pen right.
Thankfully, animal treatment is getting better; 28 September, 2017 19:15
4pawfan said...: I was just commenting that the massacre of twenty-seven hippos in Western Niger last March could be the worst case of animal cruelty towards hippos that we know of.

I was not making a statement regarding the hippo in the photo. This photo had been taken 30 or more years ago and I can not speak to that. I don't have any first hand knowledge about this hippo and neither do you. My statement was questioning if you had any feelings about the twenty-seven hippos that had been slaughtered in Western Niger. By your lack of opinion in the matter of actual cruelty in Western Niger, I guess you don't.; 28 September, 2017 21:07
Patricia said...: That was me, Frank, who said I see it differently now, not 4pawfan. Here's the thing. When I first encountered that C&B hippo, I was in my 20's. Now I'm in my 60's. Do I really qualify as hypocritical because my viewpoint has evolved over 40 years? I don't care for single animal displays now wherever they are, yet the C&B hippo WAS looked after. It is unfortunate you see my citing genuine neglect and abuse cases as irrelevant. I'm not trying to have it both ways, just expressing my points of view then and now. You're certainly entitled to your opinion, as am I. Nothing wrong with respectful disagreement. I'm not looking for an fight.
Yet.; 29 September, 2017 09:09
Bob Momyer said...: On a visit to Tanzania, we stopped on a ledge overlooking a hippo pool where dozens of the animals were gathered. Talk about a smell. Regardless of the open air, gthey generate an odor you would never forget; 29 September, 2017 10:10
Anonymous said...: Patricia
Please don't take any of my comments as disrespect. I feel you always have had an animals care upmost in your mind.
However, food and water is not all an exotic animal needs. A fat belly is only a start to keeping an animal well. What about space ? It pained me to see all those C&B animals in tiny spaces day in and day out. Two full grown tigers locked in one 3x8x3 cage for a full season and probably winterquartered as well without ONE exercise period. Elephants chained without benefit of browsing or socializing with other elephants they choose to be with. No human would only want friends forced on them by chains.
I am pro-circus make no mistake folks. I however refuse to keep quiet concerning the mistakes made in the past and applaude the advances in animal care. One of those advances came when you took over the C&B cat act. The cat semi with its larger cages was a huge improvement. Perhaps even your idea. cheers; 29 September, 2017 10:46
Patricia said...: I think a lot of the odor is generated by the way hippos naturally furiously flip their tails when they defecate. It's icky. Sprays all over creation. So, the issue here may simply be that some animals were better suited for the road than others, hippos are among those who are not. I stand by my opinion that a stinky tank, even with fresh water each day, does not in itself qualify as "the height of abuse".

Frank-
What we agree on: That improvements in animal husbandry over several decades is a good thing.
What we disagree on: Whether or not it is acceptable to respond in a combative fashion when one expresses a differing point of view.

So there we go. A few months ago I commented how glad I am that I've reached a place in my life where I no longer have the need or desire to defend or explain myself to anyone about anything.
I guess I kind of fudged that today. Ah, well.; 29 September, 2017 11:03
Anonymous said...: Combative ? I thought just two adults discussing a topic. No need for getting panties in a bunch. Peace and love.; 29 September, 2017 11:44
Patricia said...: If my panties were in a bunch... nevermind.
Peace, love, and all that groovy Woodstock stuff.
Alrighty then.; 29 September, 2017 15:20
Chic Silber said...: Wow I must have missed something

Never would think your knickers

would be in a twist Patricia so

you have no need to defend yourself

As WE know most ALL show animals

are incredibly well cared for

In the wild not ALL of them have

it as SOME might think they do

Have a good weekend folks; 29 September, 2017 17:58
Roger Smith said...: As historians know, circus owners felt they were in the big leagues when they trouped both a hippo and a giraffe. In the early-to-mid '60s, the Beatty show had both.

I have retained nose-blistering memories of Big Otto's wagon smells over there. Her keeper, Captain George, himself, hardly improved the atmosphere.; 01 October, 2017 03:36

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