Video: The first Soviet trainer: 40 years alone with lions
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
The Internet is replete with jokes about strong and independent women who celebrate birthdays in the company of their many cats. Jokes aside, but in the history of our country there really was an artist who devoted her whole life to animals from the feline family. Irina Bugrimova - the star of the Soviet circus, the first female tamer, whose only love has always been lions.
The fate of Irina Bugrimova was not easy: from childhood she went in for sports and dreamed of a circus career. In the circus arena, she made her debut as an acrobat, but over the years she mastered the profession of a trainer. The difficulty lay in the fact that Irina had to become a pioneer in this field, and in search of a strategy for communicating with predators, she had to rely only on her own intuition.
The name of Irina Bugrimova thundered throughout the USSR when she first performed with Alexander Buslaev. The joint act was built on an acrobatic stunt: in front of the amazed spectators, the artists "hovered" on a sleigh from a great height from under the circus bath. It was in 1931, and a few years later, Irina realized that she was ready to change her occupation. She vividly responded to the proposal to master the training, which came from the leadership of the circus. Her first subjects were horses, the second - leopards, but the third - lion cubs, jokingly named Guy, Julius and Caesar. It was the third attempt that became decisive, Irina decided for herself which animals she was most interested in working with.
Despite the fact that Irina raised three lion cubs almost from birth, Guy and Caesar almost bitten her to death. Trainers explain that in the life of every animal comes a critical moment when it can attack the tamer. This is what happened during one of the speeches, only thanks to the protection of Caesar and the prompt reaction of Alexander Buslaev, the trainer was saved. The treatment was difficult, the artist's leg was badly damaged. After rehabilitation, the brave woman decided not to give up and continue training, for the lions her reappearance in their cage became a sign of her strength, since then the animals have been obedient to her.
By the way, Caesar has always remained Irina's favorite. He performed with her for 23 years (for comparison, in the wild, lions live on average for about 14 years), his departure from the arena became a real tragedy for the trainer. The beast painfully experienced every absenteeism on the stage, protesting, began to beat its muzzle against the iron bars of the cage. This could not go on for a long time, and Irina decided to put the decrepit Caesar to sleep.
Irina Bugrimova herself delighted the audience with her performances until the age of 67, and after many more years she helped young trainers. Her training was gentle, and her attitude towards animals was very caring. In total, Irina Bugrimova's track record included about 100 four-footed students. The lions performed incredible stunts, and the audience was delighted: the animals rode motorcycles, soared on a swing under the dome, laid themselves out with a "carpet" … Irina became the first woman who decided to perform a famous trick: put her head in the mouth of a predator.
History is an example of incredible mutual understanding and trust between humans and predators. Kevin Richardson, the man whose love conquered wild animals.
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