The following cartoon is centred on a menagerie booth (Reise Grose Menagerie) where panic has apparently broken out due to an escaped lion (Lowe Kommt! – Lion Coming!). It probably appeared in a German magazine during the mid nineteenth century.
Tag Archives: Escaped Lion
Lion on the loose in Essex!
Well that’s what I have just woken up to hear on the radio. So I tried the TV and it’s true apparently. It’s just that what’s apparent usually has a rational explanation, especially when the circus comes to town. You see it’s a very old trick to release a docile lion or other animal when the circus was about to hit town.
In the nineteenth century it brought in much business for George Wombwell and every menagerie and circus owner across the country. Victorians flocked to the show that night.
So people of Essex do not panic it’s probably a stunt. Great British Circus was in Clacton recently and the so-called sightings are in or around St Osyth just down the road.
Animals in circuses are not going through the best of times with animal rights ‘enthusiasts’ frequently harassing the owners. Owners are not doing too well either.