Ringling Bros. back in NYC after years-long hiatus — but without iconic circus animals: ‘Worse than separating from my wife’
23.02.2024 - 23:27
/ nypost.com
out of jobs. Among them was Tabajara Maluenda, now 53, who had made a big-top name for himself as the man who could tame tigers, elephants and horses. He loved the animals, loved the accolades and loved life as an animal trainer and performer for Ringling Bros.
“It was extraordinary,” said Maluenda, who began with the circus in 2004, of life on the road with his wife and two kids. “We traveled as a family, living in the circus’s trailer. Ringling Bros.
provided a teacher, on tour with us, to teach the children.” The kids also grew up alongside tigers Hercules, Princess and Shakira.“My son and daughter helped raise the cubs,” said Maluenda. “The tigers were like family. The children played with them in the pool.
In the morning, the kids would feed the cubs from bottles of milk mixed with meat.” But once the circus shut down, the elephants, horses, tigers, lions, camels and zebras that had been part of it were sent to sanctuaries around the country.“It broke my heart,” Maluenda told The Post. “It broke me into pieces. The split broke my heart even worse than when I separated from my wife.“The tigers lived with me and my family when they were six months old,” Maluenda recalled.
“Tears come to my eyes when I think of the time I spent with them.“In 2017, I took the animals to a sanctuary in Tennessee. I don’t want to remember the place’s name. I couldn’t stay to say a long goodbye to the animals.
It was too emotional.”He wasn’t sure what to do next; it’s not like there were many opportunities for a guy who made a living getting multiple tigers to roll over in sync.“All the other circuses had their animal trainers [and didn’t need new ones],” Maluenda said. “I was left with nothing. I had to have a strong mind to keep pushing
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