Students at Olympia South enjoy a trip to the Culpepper & Merriweather Circus in Atlanta

 

[September 03, 2021] 

On Thursday morning the entire student population of Olympia South Elementary School in Atlanta got to take a field trip to the Culpepper and Merriweather Circus. Students in grades pre-K through fifth walked from the school to the Atlanta ball field to watch the raising of the circus “big top” and hear about the circus from Culpepper and Merriweather spokesman Leo.



Leo greeted the kids and explained that the circus he works for has been in existence since 1985 and their home base is in Oklahoma. He said that the circus generally travels eight months of the year. They arrive on location at around 4 a.m. in the morning, they work to set up the big top and other circus attractions, take care of the animals, greet visitors such as the students and then in the evening, generally, put on two performances. After the last performance, they tear everything down, get a little sleep and then the next morning travel to the next town and do it all over again.

Leo talked about the circus and the animals. He said the circus has two ponies, two miniature ponies, two horses, two tigers and a lion.

The tigers and lions he said are all rescue animals.



He said the tigers were rescued from a zoo in Texas that was shut down for mistreatment of the animals. He said that when the zoo was shut down, the tigers were severely malnourished and the authorities had recommended that the tigers be destroyed because they were in such bad shape. Leo said that the veterinarian that travels with the circus saw the potential to make the animals healthy again, and took measures to get the big cats placed in the care of Culpepper and Merriweather.

Leo said today, the animals are happy and healthy. They are about 18 years old each, which is three times the age span of a tiger in the wild.

The lion, Leo said is only about eight months old, young enough that he hasn’t developed his mane yet. The lion was also rescued but from a slightly less dangerous situation. The young animal was owned by an individual as a pet. That individual wasn’t able to care for the big cat as it grew and required more and more food. As a result when the cat was rescued it was underweight at only about 85 pounds. Today the cat is well taken care of and weighs about 150 pounds, spot on for a lion his age.
 

The circus also owns a donkey. Leo joked and said that the donkey was the only living thing in the circus that does less work than Leo. The donkey travels with the circus so he can be taken care of, but his primary job comes when the circus goes back home to Oklahoma for the winter. Leo explained that donkeys are territorial, protective, and aggressive against predatory animals. The donkey owned by the circus serves as a body guard of sorts for the animals when they are grazing during the winter months.

Leo also explained the current behavior of one of the big tigers. The tigers were in their cages with a fence surrounding them as well. The cages were in sight of the tent being raised and one of the tigers was watching intently and pacing inside her cage.

Leo explained that while the workers were doing a job they do every day and it was a good job at that, the tiger saw all the commotion and considered it a threat to her safety. Therefore, she was keeping a keen eye on everyone and pacing because she was a little nervous about it. The other two large cats however were unbothered by the commotion and were stretched out in their cages asleep.

Leo also explained that the large cats, like house cats and kittens on the farm sleep most of the day. He said that the circus never does anything to make the cats sleep and uses no kind of sedation to keep them calm. They allow the animals to react to their surroundings in a natural way. He said that the cats are trained, and they do trust their handlers and work well with them.

Leo was asked if the kids could get a closer look at the animals, and he responded that it was not permitted. He said that the animals do not need the stress of a lot of people approaching them; it would not be healthy for any of them.

As the work was being done to raise the big top Leo explained the process. The tent comes onto the property in pieces, so the first tasks of the workers or roustabouts is to drive the posts for the tent, and then lay out all the pieces and attach them so the tent can be raised. He explained that the large vinyl tent weighs a lot and has to be assembled from pieces so that it can be handled on and off the large semi flatbed trailer that hauls it from location to location. He said that the tent costs about $40,000 to replace, so great care is taken to assure that it is not damaged during transit or when being put up or taken down. He added that each day as the pieces are being laid out for raising, the workers check every inch of the tent for repairable damage and make those repairs when needed.

The C & M Circus is a single ring circus. Because of this there is only one large tent as part of the circus layout. Leo explained that “back in the day” a typical circus would have lots of tents in their layout. There would be tents for games of chance, tents with animals, and tents with food. To help guide spectators to the big show the circus staff referred to the main tent as the “Big top” because it was the largest and tallest tent at the event.

During question time, Leo was asked if the circus had a clown. He said yes they did. He explained, “He’s really good looking, about 5-foot-10 and has very long sideburns.” Most of the older children got it, but the littler ones missed it and the question was asked “can we meet the clown?”

Leo replied, “You already have! It’s me! I’m the clown!” He went on to explain that clowns are not a kind of people. They are simply ordinary everyday people who dress up to entertain, and no one to be afraid of.

He also told the kids in a joking manner that Culpepper’s does not accept runaway children, so no kids should try to run away and join the circus. He also joked with the teachers that if they left an ornery child behind at the end of the field trip he would return it to the school.

As the time for the kids was running out, Leo thanked them all for coming to visit. He encouraged everyone to attend the evening shows to see the full effect of a great circus.

Then it was time for the kids to say thank you and head on back to school for a day of learning that would no doubt include talking about what they had learned on their field trip.

[Nila Smith]