THE ROYAL LONDON CIRCUS

THE ROYAL LONDON CIRCUS

Owner Paul L.B. Lee and wife Doris Lee, Royal London Circus has 40 performers from 14 countries, the majority of whom are Mexicans.

After the show, instead of following the crowd stream toward the exit, we look around the compound for interesting things. We saw a corner where the small horses/ponies are so we walked to the horses. There are the small cute horses. I aimed my camera to snap a photo for souvenir but suddenly at the dark corner another side, a voice shouted to me. It was the worker who looks after the animal. I understand it means ".. no photo allowed, go out, it’s late and we are closing our gate..."

There were 3 elephants the circus has. But today we saw only 1 performing.

4 years ago in December 1999 two of the three elephants died from the sudden cold hit in Shanghai, China. Veterinarians from Shanghai Zoo rushed to the circus immediately after they heard the elephants were ill.

The Malaysian elephants are used to living in a tropical environment and can't bear the cold winds .

The elephant we saw performing tonight name Aidi age 11. The only survivor of the 3.

Source : http://www.elephant.se/database2.php?elephant_id=4622

The same night these 2 young elephant of the circus die, a baby boy (human) of the circus was born.

“Shanghai”, name of the baby boy, was born to 19-year-old Greek mother, Sofia Fateka, who joined the circus the previous year 1998 in Athens, and acts as a teeter board player. The baby's father, Bautista Armando from Mexico, also performs on a teeter board.

The baby, weighing 3.9 kilograms, was born at the Shanghai International Peace Maternity and Child Health Hospital.

"We have nicknamed the baby Shanghai to mark its extraordinary birth," Sofia Fateka the mother said.

Source : http://app1.chinadaily.com.cn/star/history/00-01-14/c04-cold.html

Aidi, the young elephant, survived a sudden cold in Shanghai while his 2 partners died 4 years ago. But Aidi himself carelessly cause his trainer dead recently.

The circus was in Sandakan in October last month before arriving Tawau this month November.

On 22 October 2003, during a routine practice session on the circus ground at Sandakan’s Sibuga Sports Complex, Aidi carelessly swing a powerful lash of the trunk to his trainer, 40 year-old Amanat, who had 20 years experiences in animal training in Indonesia.

The trainer Amanat sustained serious abdominal and head injuries after hurled against a container before falling onto the ground. The unconscious Amanat was warded at the intensive care unit (ICU) of Duchess of Kent Hospital.

The following day hospital staff removed the life support system after Amanat showed signs of recuperating. Amanat could talk 2 days later but he develops high fever, low blood pressure and irregular heart beat and died a few hours later.

This is the first dead incident case in the history of Royal London Circus.

Source : http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=22522

The remains of the Indonesian elephant trainer Amanat flown back to his hometown in Jawa Tengah for burial. While the circus continue the carnival to Tawau where we are watching tonight.

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I bought the tickets weeks earlier. The lowest price among the three seating classes.  My family of 4 plus Munium who is a Baha'i friend from Sarawak. Xing is less then 1 meter height the ticket price is Rm10.00. Yin is a baby occupy no seat so no ticket needed. 

For the 3 adult tickets Rm21.00x3, I was also given 3 free drink coupons to exchange for 3 cups of cold drinks from SugarBan fast-food restaurant. (The SugarBan Tawau branch was closed down sometime in 2005.)

Though a father of two kids now, I still love circus as much as a child. My first circus show was in 1965 in Jesselton Town (now Kota Kinabalu City).  The circus name was something like “New World”.  The circus tent was raise at an empty ground beside the Medaka Padang and behind the old railway station where the location of Dreamtel (Dream Hotel) is now today.

That first circus I went to had as many as 4 elephants.  During the days when not on show, the elephants care taker brought the elephants further down to the hill slop where the elephants were free to roam for leaves for foods. The location was behind  today’s Hotel Shangri-La.  I was Primary 6 in Chung Hua Primary School. After my afternoon extra tuition classes, I would walk a short cut home up the hill behind today Hotel Shangri-La. And there I saw the circus elephants around the hill side pulling up all types of green leaves for foods.

The elephant lifting up a trainer.

Royal London Circus

Elephant Show

2003-11-16 Tawau Town

After the show

After the show, as we follow the crowd going out. We passed by the place where the few mini ponies (miniature horses?) are kept.  We saw such short ponies in Paraguay in 1997 when I was working there.  Xing had a picture taken there.  They are cute creatures.

We stopped to have a close encounter with the mini-horse. The crowd flow fast and soon we became the last batch remain inside the circus compound. This was the time a keeper came and shouted at us to leave. He shouted instead of telling because he can’t speak Malay. So apparently he is a foreign worker.

I was curious on this. This is definitely not a proper way in handling customers in business.  Circus is an entertainment business relying on the support of happy customers.  When a customer take the trouble to come to a circus and found amusement in things. This is a positive sign of success in entertainment business.  But suing visitors away as soon as possible signalling a declining entertain spirit.  How can a circus survive long with no more curiosity to attract new visitors?

We did nor argue or persist but left. 

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