Posted 3/10/2010 1:44:46 PM by Don Covington
News from Christian Hamel, aucirque.com viewed 558 times
Saturday, March 06, 2010 - Dresden, GERMANY
Acclaimed animal trainer Ursula Bottcher has died in Germany
Ursula Böttcher
We have received word of the death of Ursula Böttcher in a
Dresden (GERMANY) hospital on Wednesday, March 3. Ursula Blütchen, her maiden
name, was born into a modest family in Dresden on June 6, 1927.
In 1952 she was hired as a showgirl on Circus Jakob Busch. It was there that
she met Erich Böttcher, an assistant to Epi Vidane in the elephant department,
whom she married. In 1955, she made her debut with Circus Barlay with a group
of three lions that had been broken by the Dutch trainer Gaston Bosman. In 1958
she took over the presentation of six brown bears owned by Circus Busch in what
was then East Germany. In 1961, she appeared at Circus Olympia, assisting with
six lions that were presented by Hanno and Marcella Coldam before taking over
eight superb polar bears purchased by the German National Circus from the
Swedish circus of Trolle Rhodin.
Ursula excelled at the presentation of these giants. Separated from her
husband, it was Manfred Horn who assisted her in the big cage. Jean Richard introduced this formidable
number to the French public during the seasons of 1972 and 1973. Ursula and
Manfred particularly enjoyed the good life in France. In November 1975, she
traveled to the United States and worked for two seasons on the Ringling Blue Unit, then
two additional years at Circus World in Orland, followed by two more years with
the Blue Unit. In 1988, she was
engaged by Circus Busch Roland for three seasons. While there, she trained new polar bears and a quartet of
Kodiak bears that were reported to be untrainable.
On September 21, 1990, the Kodiaks attacked and seriously injured Manfred Horn,
who died the following month, on October 23. Ursula worked alone for a time
before finding a new assistant, Jacob Krebs. After two seasons at Circus Richter in 1997 and 1998, she
returned to Circus Busch Roland in 1999 with the remaining six bears of her
group.
When the German state circus were liquidated, the wild animals were
dispersed. Two bears, Olaf and
Tromso, were donated to the Ammeville Zoo, where they remain today. Another, the female Tosca, is in the
Berlin Zoo. It was Tosca who gave
birth to the celebrated cub, Knut
Ursula was passionate about bears, she had an extraordinary ability to
communicate with them. Unique in
circus history, she was only 157 centimeters tall (5 feet, 1 inch) next to the
white giants who reached 3.5 meters (11 feet, 6 inches). She was the author of a memoir, written
with her brother Siegfried, Klein Frau, Baren Stark (Little Woman Who Is As
Strong As A Bear).
Source : Christian Hamel,
aucirque.com
Photos: aucirrque.com
(Translated from the French by Don
Covington)
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