Lion taming

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19th century etching of a lion tamer

Circus director and lion tamer Gerd Siemoneit-Barum during a performance in Nordenham, Germany in May 1977

Lion taming is the practice of taming lions, either for protection, whereby the practice was probably created, or, more commonly, entertainment, particularly in the circus. The term is also often used for the taming and display of other big cats such as tigers, leopards and cougars. Lion taming is used as a stereotypical dangerous occupation due to the obvious risks of toying with powerful instinctive carnivores.

Lion taming is performed in zoos across the world, to enable less dangerous feeding and to bring more profit by holding programmes like cub petting.

Note that taming an individual lion is not the same as domestication of a species.

[edit] Lion Tamers

• Gunther Gebel-Williams (1934-2001) was a world-famous animal trainer for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
• Thomas Beckerson was an English botanist who studied in Africa but was fascinated by the lions out there and brought back his lion taming skills to Victorian London.
• Clyde Beatty (1903-1965) was among the pioneers to use a chair in training big cats.

[edit] External links

• Gebel-Williams Article about Gunther Gebel-Williams at Ringling.com

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