AR-News: Ringling just added Lions to their circus

[molly]

Hi-
    Ringling Bros. hasn't had lions in 20 years and now they just added
lions!!  They should be going the other way with less animals!! More abuse
and extreme confinemnet on the way. Thanks

CIRCUS TRAIN RUMBLES INTO HERSHEY'S GIANT CENTER
Friday, May 21, 2004


For 20 years, the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus has had
plenty of tigers, but no lions.
Why is that?

Jennifer Maninger, the public relations director for the circus, says it's
because they didn't know Jason then. Jason Peters, 32, is the new lion guy
at the circus. Well, he's new to Ringling Brothers, but not to performing
with lions, which has always been a family thing for Peters since he was a
kid.

His act with Ringling involves Peters getting into a cage with 12 male
lions, who then get into different formations by responding to Peters' voice
and hand signals.

They even know and come to their names - you know, like Simba, Winston and
Zulu.

You can check it out for yourself when the circus comes to the Giant Center
in Hershey next week. The circus still travels by train - it's a mile long -
and will rumble into 90 U.S. cities in the next two years.

Peters is just one of more than 100 performers for 13 different acts,
including Sylvia Zerbine who performs aerial feats while she orchestrates
Arabian and Andalusian horses doing tricks in a ring.

How does she do that?

And how about David Larible, a clown who does the sawing humans in half
thing - and it's visible on all sides.

Or the pair of aerial performers who do everything in an upside-down house
on the roof of the arena.

They juggle, pour and drink water, throw a ball and walk back and forth and
do a little samba dance - all upside down.

"They've been very secretive to how they are actually attached," Maninger
says.

Maybe you can figure it out.

Shows are 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, 10:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m.
May 28, 11:30 a.m., 3:30 and 7:30 p.m. May 29, 1 and 5 p.m. May 30 and 1
p.m. May 31. Tickets for opening night Wednesday are $10. Other shows range
in price from $12.50 to $18.50.

For tickets, go to http://www.ringling.com, call the box office at 534-3911
or call Ticketmaster at 260-2000.


- KAREN MULLER


http://ydr.com/story/friday/25949/