Travelling Menageries or collections of wild animals existed
in Ancient Egypt and in Greek and Roman times. Emperor Augustus
collected tigers, lions, leopards and cheetahs. In the 12th
century Henry the First imported wild animals to his palace
in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, and in 1251 Henry the Third established
a Royal Menagerie at the Tower of London.
Before the establishment of Zoos collections of wild animals
could be seen at 17th century fairs, and in 1793 a man called
Pidcock established Exeter Exchange, a menagerie on the Strand
in London. It was in the 19th century that menageries reached
the height of their popularity. This was partly because overseas
trade encouraged a market in the animals but also because there
was a real interest in seeing wild animals in the flesh.
Such was the popular interest in unusual animals that the slaughter
of an elephant at the Exeter Exchange was reported in the daily
newspapers, complete with details about the dissection of the
poor beast.
Large travelling menageries toured the country visiting fairgrounds.
These menageries were a collection of separate wagons parked
in a rectangular shape. The audience stood in the middle of
the rectangle and the animal tamers would enter the wagons to
perform tricks.
Wombwell’s Menagerie continued to tour until 1931. By then it was one of only two
touring menageries in the country. The touring menagerie had
for the most part been combined with the circus.
The first combination of circus and menagerie was at Astley’s
in 1838. A flamboyant American called Isaac Van Amburgh appeared
with lions from Wombwell’s Menagerie. He had become famous as
a lion tamer and was the first man to put his head inside a
lion’s mouth. Queen Victoria was very impressed by his performance.
By the late 19th century there was an international trade in
wild animals tamed for circuses, these including lions, tigers,
leopards, bears, hyenas, elephants, rhinos and monkeys, many
trained by
Carl Hagenbeck. There were also permanent menagerie buildings in many cities.
Bertram Mills’
summer circus featured a huge menagerie for the public to view
before and after a performance, rather like a touring Zoo.
The
1948 summer season toured 137 animals including horses, ponies,
elephants, bears, lions, monkeys, dogs, llamas and camels.
Feeding
the animals took 5 tons of hay a week and 4 tons of straw.
Other more unusual animals were also shown at Bertram Mills’
including
a crocodile – whose trainer, ‘the only female
fakir’, placed her head inside
his mouth.
Wild animals continued to tour with circuses up until the 1980s.
Fears about endangered species and the cruelty of touring wild
animals in small cages, caused many local authorities to ban
circuses from performing in their area.
Introduction
