Lion taming

"Lion tamer" redirects here. For the film, see The Lion Tamer.

Lion tamer

19th century lithograph of a lion tamer
Occupation
Activity sectors	Entertainment, show business
Description

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

Lion taming is the practice of animal training that involves taming lions, either for protection, whereby the practice was probably created,^{[citation needed]} 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, jaguars, cheetahs, 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.^{[citation needed]}

The Captive Animal Protection Society maintains that animal welfare cannot be guaranteed in circuses.

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

Lion tamers

• Isaac A. Van Amburgh (1811–1865) was an American animal trainer who developed the first trained wild animal act in modern times. He was known for acts of daring, such as placing his head inside the jaws of a wild cat, and became known as “The Lion King.”.
• George Wombwell (1777–1850), founder of Wombwell's Traveling Menagerie, raised many animals himself including the first lion to be bred in captivity in Britain. He was buried in Highgate Cemetery, under a statue of his lion Nero.
• Carl Hagenbeck (1844–1913) was a merchant of wild animals.
• Mabel Stark (1889–1968) was referred to as the world's first woman tiger tamer.
• Clyde Beatty (1903–1965) was among the pioneers to use a chair in training big cats.
• Gunther Gebel-Williams (1934–2001) was a world-famous animal trainer for the Red Unit with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
• Ángel Cristo (1943-2010), the most famous lion and tiger tamer in Spain, known for his numerous accidents under lion and tiger attacks. In 1982 he won the Medalla de Oro del Festival Internacional del Circo ('Golden Medal of the Circus International Festival').
• Martin Lacey, (born 1947), animal trainer, owner of the Great British Circus, trained most of the tigers used in the ESSO TV advertisements in the 1970s.
• Martin Lacey, Jr., (born 1977), son of Martin, an animal trainer and performer with Circus Krone in Munich.
• Irina Bugrimova (1911–2001), the first female lion tamer in Russia