Friday, August 26, 2011

More than elephants: Circus features cats, dogs and clowns, too


Catherine Carden, elephant trainer with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, enters the ring with Carol (left), Dutchess (center) and Patty (right), three Asian elephants in the show.

By Amber Nicholson,

Oregon NewsLab

Published: Aug 25, 2011

EUGENE, Ore. - There is love in the air at the Matthew Knight Arena.
Love for our four-legged friends - and love between our fellow two-legged friends.
On Thursday, the cats, dogs and elephants were happily out and about on the arena floor with their trainers, all of whom happen to be married couples.
The morning started out with a clown exclaiming, “House cats really can do a lot more than just sit there and look at you and say ‘don’t touch me.’”
Maya and Andre Panthelog, both have been with the circus for 12 years, brought out three of their 12 cats to perform and back up the clown’s statement.
Though there was need for a little more coaxing than maybe had been anticipated, the cats pulled through for their trainers.
Not to be outdone by feisty felines, Hans and Maria Close came out next to perform with their three dogs, a poodle named Gunner, a white terrier named Toby and a brown and white terrier named Cito.

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