Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus (Blue Unit) in United States

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Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus (Blue Unit)
Type	circus
Founded	1969
Last elephant left	2017
Closed down	2017
Place	Venice
Region	Florida
Country	United States
Related persons
Owner	1969-2017: Kenneth Feld

Performers & Artists
-: Bello Nock -: Michelangelo Nock -: Michelangelo Nock -: Tosca Canestrelli -: Ricardo Canestrelli

Zoological department

Veterinarians	2011-2014: Jessica Clowers
Animal trainers
2008: Vinceta Pages 2002-2007: Sylvia Zerbini 2001-2007: Sacha Houcke Jr. 2000-2012: Karin Houcke 1981-1988: Sandrine Bouglione 1968-1991: Charly Baumann -2017: Alexander Lacey -: Harry Thomas Jr. -2007: Sara Houcke : Jenny Vidbel

Equestrians
1969: Ingeborg Rhodin

Elephant department

Elephant Trainer	2010-2016: Joey Frisco 1994-1995: William "Buckles" Woodcock 1994-1994: Ted Svertesky 1986-1991?: Franz Tisch 1978-1979: Gary Jacobson 1978-1978: William "Buckles" Woodcock 1971-1971: John Herriot 1970-1989: Axel Gautier -2010: Brian French : Chico Williams

Elephant keepers
1997-1998: Nate Green 1992-1993: Wade Burck 1984-1987: Wade Burck 1978-1978: Gary Hill 1977-1978: Sam Hadock 1973-1973: Gary Hill 1970-1993: Donna Gautier 1969-1970: Axel Gautier -1993: Michael Gautier -1993: Kevin Gautier

Record history
History of updates	2022-10-11

Latest document update	2022-10-11 15:51:13

Description

Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus (Blue Unit), in Venice, United States , was founded in 1969. The last elephant left in 2017. Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus (Blue Unit) closed down in 2017.

Specified info for Ringling locations Elephants owned, residing and performing with Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus can be found at several different locations, which have been divided up for clarification of record keeping and to give a better idea of herd identifications. They include:

Ringling Brothers Circus (1884 - 1918)
Barnum & Bailey Circus (1888 - 1918)
Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus (1919 - 1968)
Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus Blue Unit (1969 - present)
Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus Red Unit (1969 - present)
Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus Gold Unit (1988 - present)
Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus European Tour (1963 - 1964)
Circus World at Polk City (1974 - 1984
Ringling Retirement Farm at Williston (1984 - 2010)
Ringling Brother's Center for Elephant Conservation (1995 - present)
Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, shortened RBBB, or Ringlings today, was a 1919 merge between Ringling Brothers Circus (1884 - 1918) and Barnum & Bailey Circus (1888 - 1918)

Comments / picturesElephants owned, residing and performing with Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus can be found at several different locations, which have been divided up for clarification of record keeping and to give a better idea of Herd identifications. They include:
- Ringling Brothers Circus (1884 - 1918)
- Barnum & Bailey Circus (1888 - 1918)
- Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus (1919 - 1968)
- Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus Blue Unit (1969 - present)
- - Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus Red Unit (1969 - present)
- Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus Gold Unit (1988 - present)
- Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus European Tour (1963 - 1964)
- Circus World at Polk City (1974 - 1984
- Ringling Retirement Farm at Williston (1984 - 2010)
- Ringling Brother\'s Center for Elephant Conservation (1995 - present)

Ringling Brothers and Barnum and <a href='location2.php?location_id=634' title='Bailey Circus'>Bailey Circus</a>
(Blue Unit) in United States United+States

I’m not sure of the origin of these photos either but they feature the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Blue Unit in January 1974. According to the records of elephant historian Sabu Moreau, the elephants in order of the stable line were Icky, Siam, Marcella, Luci, India, Susan, Betty, Calcutta, Rani, Jewel, Jenny, Roma, Putzi, Karnaudi, John, Cora, Targa and Karen with superintendent Axel Gautier.
Sabu would travel with both units for a short time and he compiled incredibly comprehensive details on the elephants each year in the 1970s, even documenting a diagram with each elephant’s location in the train cars moving from city to city.

Ryan Easley

"Carmen", "Peggy", "Gilda", "Zina", "George", "Hugo", and "Anna May".
We had a total of 22 that season.
"Blue Show 1978 #12," Buckles Web Log, 2009-01-07

For many years, when the Ringling show played San Diego, it would always unload the elephants, horses and lead stock at the Santa Fe siding down in Old Town. From there, it was only about a mile\'s walk to the Sports Arena. These photos were all taken when the Blue Unit arrived in 1986. Since then, more tracks have been added in this area and the unloading must take place further south. (From looking at the photos, it appears that the 1986 Blue Unit elephant Herd was made up of mostly full-grown adults.) Eric
Blue Show Herd 1986 (In order of seniority)
1. Siam 2. India 3. Calcutta 4. Jewel 5. Lucy 6. Betty 7. Rani 8. Suzanne 9. Jenny 10. Targa 11. Kernaudi 12. Roma 13. Putsie 14. Karen 15. Carmen 16. Sophie 17. Bonnie 18. Nicole 19. Icky (Delivered calf "Juliet" 12-30-92) 20. Alana (Delivered calf "Romeo" 1-10-93) Buckles
"Blue Show 1986 #1 (From Eric Beheim)," Buckles Web Log, 2009-01-14

2007: The names and ages of the 10 elephants that perform on the 136th Edition are: Sara (4), Kelly-Ann (9), Bonnie (11), Juliette (13), Nicole (29), Karen (36), Minjak (38), Susan (52), Jewel (55) and Mysore (58).

References for records about Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus (Blue Unit)

Recommended Citation

Koehl, Dan (2025). Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus (Blue Unit), Elephant Encyclopedia. Available online at https://www.elephant.se/location2.php?location_id=2206. (archived at the Wayback machine)

Sources used for this article is among others:

http://bucklesw.blogspot.com/2009/01/blue-show-1978-14.html

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