Russia has always held their circus tradition highly in regard. Dating far back in their culture’s history, the traveling circuses remain one of the most popular excursions for Russian families across the country. They come to watch acrobats, and jugglers, clowns, and dangerous and exotic animals perform tricks. A video of a circus bear turned on its trainer during a performance has surfaced from 2019. The highly distressed bear mauled its trainer, causing mass panic in the audience.
Circus bear gone rogue
The video that went viral a few years ago has resurfaced on our social media pages. It shows a circus bear’s performance that went terribly wrong. The horrifying footage started off without any hint of how it ended. Except for the fact that a massive black bear was the star o the show, a notoriously dangerous animal. The excited audience watched the bear push a wheelbarrow while walking on its hind legs like a human. No one seemed to mind that there was no barrier between them and the bear. The muzzle around its snout seemed sufficient to them.
The crowd cheered as the bear pushed the wheel barrow, until the circus bear suddenly turned on its trainer. It pushed him to the ground and started mauling the man. The cheers turned to screams as the audience panicked. A group of children were sitting right in the front row, and had a clear view of the distressed animal in attack-mode. A second man in the arena started kicking the bear in a frantic attempt to get him off his colleague. He soon realized that was not going to work, and he grabbed his electric prod to stun the animal.
Circus organizers
The audience scrambled to the exits, desperate the flee the scene. Screams of terror filled the background. Mothers and fathers frantically ushering their children to safety. The organizers of the circus could have nearly had a much bigger problem on their hands had the circus bear turned on them as well.
Those in charge of the circus said the bear was provoked by the flashing lights of cameras from the audience. But, the trainer said at a later stage that the bear had joint problems. This had caused the bear pain which ultimately led him to attack. In the end, the authorities made the circus bear’s performance in the show to be taken out of the lineup.
Audience reports on crazed circus bear
The viral video that has become popular once more was filmed by a local Russian woman named Galina Gurieva who was 27 at the time of the incident. She spoke about the fear she experienced while watching the horrific scene. She pointed out the lack of barrier between the circus bear and the people in the audience. “My knees are still trembling,” she said. “I was shocked there was no fence for the safety of spectators, given the size of the bear.”
Another spectator was a father who had his children with him at the show. He said: “We expected to see cute cubs and they brought in a huge grizzly-terminator. They did not protect children and adults from possible attack.”
Another person thought the circus bear’s attack was part of the plan. “I was shocked there was no fence for the safety of spectators, given the size of the bear,” they said. “But when the assistant started kicking the bear and pulled out the shocker, the panic started. People got up and ran to the exit.”
Other rogue animals
The SeaWorld park in San Diego is the home of two 6000lb orcas named Orkid and Splash. In a similar story to the circus bear attack, these orcas also turned on their trainer, Tamarie Tollison, 28. The video shows her sitting with her feet in the water with the initially friendly orcas. Suddenly, one of the orcas, Orkid, grabbed a hold of Tamarie’s foot and pulled her into the water. They dragged her, while she desperately held onto the gate.
Luckily another trainer made the call for the gate to open. This would mean the more dominant orca would now enter the pool. They hoped this would cause the orcas to let go of Tamarie so she could climb out. Luckily, this worked, and Tamarie clambered out of the water.
Sources
- “Horror moment ‘depressed’ circus bear savages trainer in front of screaming children after ‘life of agony’.” The Sun. Imogen Bradick. August 24, 2022.
- “Circus bear mauls trainer in front of terrified audience in Russia.” NY Post. Will Stewart. October 25, 2019
- “BLOOD CURDLING SCREAM SeaWorld trainer screamed ‘somebody help me’ as she was dragged down by two massive 6,000lb orcas Splash & Orkid.” The Sun. Tariq Tahir. August 28, 2022.