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Children of all ages, everything forgotten
except the magic world they're in.
The circus world.
We've got 18 bears to take care of, they've got 38 lions and tigers,
a petting zoo, there's just a lot of stuff around here.
We've always been saving animals, all our lives.
We rescued everything that needed a home.
We are pro-animal, we are animal welfare.
But there's a big difference between animal welfare and animal rights.
Both elephants were forced to perform almost to the day of their deaths.
How can we consider ourselves civilized while we continue to allow
the suffering and abuse of animals simply for entertainment.
PETA, the People for the Ethical Treament of Animals, they think the
animals are better off dead than working for us.
Happy, alive, in this nice area. It's messed up.
Uh oh, there goes the mic.
You know, this is what I really love,
otherwise I'd have done something else.
It's not like, my family's not like, "you will be a dog trainer!"
You get to choose what you want to do, it's what you love.
Did you just get pissed on?
This is how they train them! This is wrong.
["TEAR THAT FOOT OFF! SINK IT IN THE FOOT!"] This ??? circus,
["TEAR IT OFF! MAKE 'EM SCREAM!"] Circuses across America, this is exactly what people protest against.
Basically there's no more circus anymore, it's a dying art form.
I think people will miss it when it's gone.
If they don't pay attention, it will be.
[FRINGES]
[THE ROSAIRE FAMILY CIRCUS]
Don't even think about it!
I don't know if you guys do this,
[FREDERICK ROSAIRE BEAR TRAINER DERRICK ROSAIRE III BEAR TRAINER] Up to you, but if I were you,
[RYAN DUFFY VICE] My pickup line would be, "hey, I train *** bears."
I have a little better pickup line than that.
I point at my leg.
Whoa! Oh! What the hell happened there?
And that's what happens when you screw up working around bears.
Holy ***, dude.
[CLAYTON ROSAIRE BIG CAT TRAINER] Say hi. -Hey buddy.
Oh, ***! -Aw, dude.
Sorry, I had to. Did you hear the squeaky noise again?
That was his heinie.
We're here in Sarasota, FL
with one of the last great American circus families.
We try to rescue all the exotic animals that we can,
and then I'm really pushing in the future that we'll be able to
rescue a lot of exotic dancers, 'cause they need a home.
[KAY ROSAIRE BIG CAT HABITAT FOUNDER] You're so bad.
The Rosaires are a tenth generation circus family,
dating all the way back to royal court jesters in medieval England.
Yeah, we have a really long history.
This is my grandfather and my grandmother.
My father had a broken back when he was a little boy,
and so he had to quit doing aerial things,
he couldn't do anything acrobatic anymore.
And he always loved animals, so he focused on animals his whole life.
In 1960, Kay's father, Derek Rosaire, Sr. immigrated to the United States
from South Wingfield, England, to appear on the Ed Sullivan show
with his equestrian act, Rosaire and Tony the Wonder Horse.
He went on to perform on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson,
and at the White House for President Nixon.
The culture in America has a different view of circus, because of PT Barnum,
and his attitude about sort of shocking people, and he changed the
atmosphere of the circus in this country.
We're also in an era now where people don't go out as much as they do,
they're not used to live entertainment,
but the biggest impact on the circus was the animal rights activists.
Circuses cannot provide animals with the facilities they need
to be healthy and happy.
Many of these animals will literally go insane.
Animal abuse is billed as family entertainment.
All those zoos claim to be educational,
they are still profit-making enterprises that too often
put their own commercial self-interest in front of animal welfare.
All the animals that I ever trained were all animals that needed a home.
I always rescued, I never bought any animals.
So I had always done that, and after I had more than I could handle,
I just wanted to rescue more, so as my career blossomed and I had the money,
I built the facility.
The Big Cat Habitat began rescuing animals in 1987.
And it's since grown to feature three housing complexes,
adjoining exercise habitats and pools,
and is currently home to tigers, ligers, lions, bears, and basically
anything else with fur, a shell, or wings.
Well, I came here to study a little bit about the different animals,
and I've never really seen any kinds of animals like these before.
We've been here before, we love it. We love animals. This is a great place to
bring people to show them what they're doing with preserving these animals
and taking good care of them.
My brother started being a softie for bears,
[PAMELA ROSAIRE ZOPPE KAY'S SISTER, CHIMPANZEE TRAINER] and Pam with the chimps,
so it just sort of naturally evolved into this.
Why you gotta bug me now?
Caring for these animals is a 24/7 job.
And for Pam, Kay's sister, they might as well be family.
Well, I tried everything, and I like chimps the best.
I raised my daughter with a chimp.
When my daughter was born, one of my chimps was pregnant,
and I didn't even know it.
And his mother died when he was born,
so I ended up breastfeeding him.
I don't know, I just felt so bad for their plight, because they've always
been mishandled and mistreated, and so my heart went out to them.
I started buying little baby chimps that were headed for research
when I was a teenager.
And Newton was probably the best chimp I ever had.
It was quite interesting to raise him along with a child.
Newton was an excellent cook.
Cook meaning what?
Cooked food.
My plan was to do a cooking program and call it Newton's Kitchen.
But we filmed the first one, and five days later,
Newton had a stroke and died.
Kayes Lions was my uncle.
That's why I'm named Kay.
My uncle had been a famous lion trainer in England
during the 30's and 40's.
And then when I was in high school, I had the chance to work with
Clarence the Cross Eyed Lion.
And that's when I started working with big cats, and I was hooked on them,
what's what I decided I wanted to do.
And it was interesting, because sometimes I'd have her mouth open
and I'd be putting my head in her mouth in these big auditoriums
with the super troopers, and I could see the spotlights
shining in through her nose.
It gave me chills when I realized how lucky I was that I never got hurt.
13,000 times.
Well, because I did an average of about 500 shows a year.
Anyone who questions circus people and their care for animals
and the conditions should have to come here at 8 am and clean up tiger ***
with these guys.
There's no way you'd do that if you don't truly love animals.
You get up, you clean everybody out, make sure everybody's got fresh water,
here at the habitat, they all rotate.
They all have these big outdoor habitats that they get to run and play
in and everything. It's a full day, you know.
You really have to spend most of the day with the animals.
It's just a different smell. It's not even like ***. It's pure dead animal.
You know what I'm saying, one little slip up,
and you could be that *** down there.
Oh, that is terrible.
It's rewarding, isn't it?
Uh..... Jesus.
You know, way back in the old days, a lot of the videos they showed
when they're trying to make it look bad, a lot of those animals were from
the wild. They got 'em from wild animal parks and they just go in
and grab a couple and throw 'em in a truck and sell them.
Times were different, you know?
So, those type of acts were totally different.
You never saw in the old days a tiger trainer petting a tiger,
because it was a different relationship. Well, times change.
You have to learn to work with the animals and be a part of their family
and have them be a part of your family and you don't have to be cruel to them
you don't have to abuse them, and they can be great kids
and they can love you.
You know, there's always been a connection between man and beast,
and we just show them how it can be done the right way.
Our mission has become really important over the last 20 years,
because the environmental issues that are going on with animals disappearing
and all that, we are able to let people see them up close and personal
and it makes them much more willing to help them in the wild.
We just lost my brother, this is...
this is my brother Derek, with the bear, Peter.
-That's a great picture.
Derek Rosaire, Jr. died in 2010.
And since then, his sons have taken over his place
as caretakers of the bears.
Vespa, wave! Wave, higher! Give me a good wave!
Well, the big male we have down at that end weighs 1,500 pounds.
He stands 11 foot tall. That's an average male kodiak.
But, everything you do with them, you have to do nicely,
you have to be very gentle about it,'cause if you try to force them,
they eat you.
If it wasn't for circus, five species of bears would be extinct.
It's what we've done all our lives, it's what we've good at.
You know, it's amazing, because had Circus Fan not sent it to me,
we never would have had any of this stuff, 'cause we, you know,
by the time the newspaper articles came out, my parents were already
in the next city.
But it's neat to have all this stuff, you know?
[ELLIAN ROSAIRE KAY'S SISTER, HORSE TRAINER] Well, my dad was a fabulous horse trainer.
because he didn't really- he called it teaching, he would teach them.
And that's how we've always trained.
Kiss the lips. OK, wide.
Good boy.
We all work with all different kinds of animals.
I went with horses because I love to ride.
I have a need for speed.
I've been riding for more than a half a century.
And I still will get on a horse and just go ripping away.
I love it.
We love what we do, and obviously, they love us.
Give me a hug.
Good. There you go.
I think there's a decline in live family entertainment of all kinds,
you know, there's so much going on in the world now,
there's so many other forms of entertainment happening,
there's a lot to choose from, and people don't always take the time
to enjoy a live performance. For some reason, it's way easier to just say,
"put the TV on."
See the old fashioned clothes?
It was quite a thing when the circus came to town.
They would parade into town. They'd all line up and all come in together.
During the depression, there were over 44 circuses in this country,
and they did very very well. People were seeking affordable entertainment.
You know, when you went to the Ringling show,
and you saw Gunther Gebel-Williams, it warmed your heart.
There's none of that now.
You know, there's something to be said for the old school.
He's at the beginning of his training, everyone please say hello to Handsome!
Come on, Handsome, let's go, big guy!
I think there will always be circus,
but to which level and how many, I don't know, but I'm sure it'll
it'll be around. It's been in this country for over 220 years, I believe,
so why would it stop?
Circus is supposed to be a place where you can take your entire family,
mom, dad, the kids, everybody,
and make them all happy. That's what circus is all about.
One form or another, it will still be around.
As long as people need entertainment, it'll be there.
The show must go on, that's one of our sayings.
It's a *** saying, but it works.
You know every time you hear something, "oh, the courtroom erupted
into a three ring circus," you know.
-Which is so ridiculous. It's such a misnomer, because there's
nothing more organized than a three ring circus.
When you're ready, of course.
And they need all that stuff, but...
Just so you know, Mr. Camera man, it's good luck to get peed on by a panda.
Did you just get pissed on?
You actually, physically now, I mean, I don't know if you know this or not,
but you belong to her. -Yeah.
Like, if she had a motorcycle right now, you would be riding on the back
of that motorcycle.
[VICE © 2012 VICE MEDIA, INC.]