Spectrum 2009 - August 24th

Controversy Surrounds Barnum & Bailey Circus
Kelly Azevedo

Can be viewed here until September 1st.

When the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus rolls into Sacramento next week, they’ll bring 82 animals, performers from 11 countries, their first magician and a heated controversy.

The show, “Zing Zang Zoom,” is in the first of its two-year run, which will visit 80 cities across the states, including seven performances at Arco Arena beginning on August 27. A franchise that goes back to PT Barnum’s first show in 1872, the circus still features exotic animals, clowns and human acrobatic performances.

The menagerie includes 11 Asian elephants weighing a collective 100,000 pounds that each eat 160 pounds of food every day, and 13 Bengal Tigers will share the spotlight with horses, zebras, doves and performing dogs.

In the center of it all is 24-year old ringmaster and magician, Alex Ramon, a Bay Area native who is thrilled to be performing in California again. Ramon began his career performing at birthday parties at the age of 15, and he transitioned to magic shows at libraries, including a stop in Woodland in 2008.

Ramon was the recipient of the San Francisco Bay Area’s Best Stage Magician award and the Lance Burton award, given to the National Teenage Champion Magician by the World Magic Seminar in Las Vegas. Before becoming the first magician to work with Barnum & Bailey, Ramon toured with Disney Live! to 14 countries on four continents.

This year marks the 41st anniversary of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Clown College, intended to “save the ancient and honorable art of clowning.” Backstage in Clown Alley, performers apply their own greasepaint and size 28EEEEE shoes before the show. The artists will perform mimes, ride unicycles, walk on stilts, spin plates, juggle, spit water and throw pies.

Yet some animal welfare groups, led by PETA, allege abuse, and the Sacramento, East Bay and San Francisco SPCAs, along with the Oakland Zoo, called for a boycott when the circus stops at Arco Arena next week.

Libby Morris is Ringling Bros. elephant trainer and is a fourth generation animal trainer for the circus who describes the 11 Asian elephants as “part of the family.” Morris traveled in a small tent circus until she was 17, when she met her husband, and they struck out on their own. Some of the youngest performers ever to buy their own elephants and become contract circus performers, the Morris family now includes two sons, 11-years old and 16 months.

Libby Morris calls the team of elephants “the girls” and speaks with pride of Asia, the show’s diva who has a personality that enjoys performing. Morris maintains that she and the staff would never abuse the animals, and their overall health and longevity demonstrate the care they receive.

“You just don’t abuse an animal and see it live to 52-years old,” Morris explains, highlighting one of the older elephants that travels but does not perform as the younger animals do.

“I love them to death, but they are wild animals, so there is a line we have to keep,” she added. Morris invited skeptics to see the animals during the pre-show where Asia will be creating a painting to give away and everyone can see up close how healthy and alert the animals are.

Morris is the first woman in Ringling Bros. history to present 11 elephants in the ring, and she arrives in a destination city before the train in order to receive hay and food shipments and prepare the holding areas for her animals.

“The elephants each have their own space in the car, right behind the engine, where the ride is smoothest. We tether their leg like a seatbelt to keep them safe.”

“I would never abuse my livelihood,” Morris concluded.