Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
MALE SPEAKER 1: Children of all ages.
Everything forgotten, except the magic world they're in.
Circus world.
DERRICK ROSAIRE: 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.
KAY ROSAIRE: 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.
MALE SPEAKER 2: Both elephants were forced to perform almost
until the day of their deaths.
MALE SPEAKER 3: How can we consider ourselves civilized
while we continue to allow the suffering and abuse of animals
simply for entertainment?
CLAYTON ROSAIRE: PETA, the People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals, they think the animals are better
off dead than working for us, happy, alive,
in this nice area.
It's messed up, huh?
Uh-oh.
There goes the mic.
This is what I really love, otherwise, I'd have done
something else.
It's not like my family's not like, [WHIP SOUND], you will
be a dog trainer.
You get to choose what you want to do.
It's what you love.
RYAN DUFFY: Did you just get pissed on?
FEMALE SPEAKER 1: This is how they train them.
This is wrong!
MALE SPEAKER 4: This gives the circuses across
America a black eye.
This is exactly what people protest against.
PAM ROSAIRE ZOPPE: There basically is
no more circus anymore.
It's a dying art form.
KAY ROSAIRE: I think people will miss it when it's gone.
If they don't pay attention, it will be.
DERRICK ROSAIRE: Don't even think about it.
RYAN DUFFY: I don't know if you guys do this.
It's up to you, but if I were you, my pick up line would be,
hey, I train *** bears.
DERRICK ROSAIRE: I have a little better pick
up line than that.
I point at my leg.
RYAN DUFFY: Whoo, what the hell happened there?
DERRICK ROSAIRE: And that's what happens when you screw up
working around bears.
RYAN DUFFY: Holy ***, dude.
CLAYTON ROSAIRE: Say hi.
RYAN DUFFY: Hi buddy.
CLAYTON ROSAIRE: Oh, ***.
RYAN DUFFY: Oh, dude.
CLAYTON ROSAIRE: Sorry, I had to.
Did you hear the squeaking noise again?
That was his hiney.
RYAN DUFFY: We're here in Sarasota, Florida, with one of
the last great American circus families.
CLAYTON ROSAIRE: 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--
[LAUGHTER]
KAY ROSAIRE: You're so bad.
RYAN DUFFY: The Rosaires are a 10th generation circus family
dating all the way back to royal court jesters in
medieval England.
KAY ROSAIRE: Yeah, we have a really long history.
Here's 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.
RYAN DUFFY: In 1960, Kay's father, Derrick 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.
KAY ROSAIRE: The culture in America has a different view
of circus because of P. T. Barnum and his attitude about
sort of shocking people.
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.
MALE SPEAKER 3: Circuses cannot provide animals with
the facilities they need to be healthy and happy.
MALE SPEAKER 5: Many of these animals will
literally go insane.
FEMALE SPEAKER 2: Animal abuse is billed as family
entertainment.
Although 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.
KAY ROSAIRE: 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 then 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.
RYAN DUFFY: The Big Cat Habitat began rescuing animals
in 1987 and has since grown to feature three housing
complexes, adjoining exercise habitats, and pools, and it's
currently home to tigers, ligers, lions, bears, and
basically, anything else with fur, a shell, or wings.
GIRL: 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.
FEMALE SPEAKER 3: We've been here before.
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.
KAY ROSAIRE: My brother started being a softy for
bears, and Pam with the chimps.
And so it just sort of naturally evolved into this.
Why you got to bug me, huh?
RYAN DUFFY: Caring for these animals is a 24/7 job.
And for Pam, Kay's sister, they might as well be family.
PAM ROSAIRE ZOPPE: 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.
So my heart went out to them.
I started buying little baby chimps that were heading 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.
RYAN DUFFY: Cooks meaning what?
PAM ROSAIRE ZOPPE: Cook 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.
KAY ROSAIRE: Kayes Lions is my uncle.
That's why I'm named Kay.
My uncle had been a famous lion trainer in England during
the '30s and '40s.
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.
That'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 troupers, and I could see the
spotlight shining in through her nose.
It gave me chills when I realized how lucky I was and
never got hurt.
13,000 times.
Well, because I did an average of about 500 shows a year.
RYAN DUFFY: Anyone who questions circus people and
their care for animals, and the conditions, should have to
come here at 8:00 AM and clean up tiger *** with these guys.
Because there's no way you'd do that if you don't truly
love animals.
CLAYTON ROSAIRE: 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 and everything.
It's a full day.
You really have to spend most of the day with the animals.
RYAN DUFFY: It's just a different smell.
It's not even like ***.
It's pure dead animal.
CLAYTON ROSAIRE: You know what I'm saying, one little
slip-up, and you could be that *** down there.
RYAN DUFFY: Oh, that is terrible.
CLAYTON ROSAIRE: It's rewarding, isn't it?
CLAYTON ROSAIRE: 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 them from wild animal parks, and they'd just go in
and grab a couple and throw them in a truck and sell them.
Times were different, 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.
You don't have to be cruel to them.
You don't have to abuse them.
They can be great kids, and they can love you.
There's always been a connection between man and
beast, and we just show them how it can be
done the right way.
KAY ROSAIRE: Our mission has become really important over
the last 20 years, because the environmental issues that are
going on with animals disappearing and all of 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 wilds.
We just lost my brother.
This is my brother, Derrick, with the bear, Peter.
RYAN DUFFY: That's a great picture.
Derrick Rosaire, Jr. died in 2010.
And since then, his sons have taken over his place as
caretakers of the bears.
FREDERICK ROSAIRE: Aspa, wave, wave.
Higher.
Give me a good wave.
DERRICK ROSAIRE: 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.
FREDERICK ROSAIRE: But everything you do with them,
you have to do nicely.
You have to be very gentle about it, because if you try
to force them, they eat you.
DERRICK ROSAIRE: If it wasn't for circus, five species of
bears would be extinct.
Yeah, it's what we've all our lives, it's
what we're good at.
And lay down.
KAY ROSAIRE: You know, it's amazing, because had our
circus friend not sent it to me, we never would have had
any of this stuff.
Because by the time the newspaper articles came out,
my parents were already in the next city.
It's neat to have all this stuff.
ELLEN ROSAIRE: 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.
Just 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.
I think there's a decline in live family
entertainment of all kinds.
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,
oh put the TV on.
PAM ROSAIRE ZOPPE: See the old-fashioned clothes?
So 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.
And during the Depression, there were over 44 circuses in
this country, and they did very, very well.
People were seeking affordable entertainment.
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.
CLAYTON ROSAIRE: --at the beginning of his training.
Everybody please say hello to Handsome!
Come on, Handsome, let's go, big guy!
Handsome--
PAM ROSAIRE ZOPPE: I think there'll always be circus, and
to which level, or how many, I don't know.
But I'm sure it'll be around.
It's been in this country for over 220 years, I believe, so
why would it stop?
CLAYTON ROSAIRE: 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.
In one form or another, it will still be around.
FREDERICK ROSAIRE: As long as people need entertainment,
it'll be there.
DERRICK ROSAIRE: The show must go on.
That's one of our sayings.
It's a *** saying, but it works.
[APPLAUSE]
KAY ROSAIRE: Everytime you hear something, oh, the
courtroom erupted into a three-ring circus, you know,
it's such a misnomer because there's nothing more organized
than a three-ring circus.
CLAYTON ROSAIRE: When you're ready, of course.
And they need all that stuff.
Just so you know, Mr. Cameraman, it's good luck to
get peed on by a tiger.
RYAN DUFFY: Did you just get pissed on?
I like that.
CLAYTON ROSAIRE: You actually, physically, now--
I don't know if you know this or not, but you belong to her.
If she had a motorcycle right now, you would be riding on
the back of that motorcycle.