Live with a brown bear

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In 1978, Max 36 years old

He has been a beast trainer in the circus for more than 20 years

A brown bear she domesticated gave birth to a little bear Naatasa

She started to feed this little bear with a bottle

After feeding, there is a "daughter"

On December 11, 2014, Maxis, wearing a performance suit, took her brown bear Natasha. After Natasha suddenly retired from the circus, he needs enough exercise every day to maintain normal metabolism.

There is a double bed in a narrow and tidy car, with a painting hanging on the bed. The woman dressing dressed in the painting is surrounded by five lions and a tiger. The woman in the painting is Maxis Nidmer. For decades, she has been the owner of these beasts. In her later years, she and her husband also had a brown bear named Natasha, living in a RV like a family.

Dutch photographer Luke Bart accidentally discovered the car in 2014 and this special family. It was also since then that he began to record the lives of Maxis and Natasha with the camera. At the request of Max, until 7 years after they met, the 43 -year -old brown bear Natasha died, and Bart made the story public.

The photos hanging on the bed tell the glory of Maxica as a beast trainer.

Family composed of Bear Heren

In 1978, Max was 36 years old and had been a trappering master in the circus for more than 20 years. A brown bear she had domesticated gave birth to a bear Natasha. There is an extra "daughter". She grew up in a circus and was accompanied by the beasts since she was a child, and her parents were also beast trainers. In 1953, 11 -year -old Maxica urgently took a class for his father and helped his father train the bear. I did not expect that these beasts accepted her at once. From then on, it seemed to be aware of his talent, and Maxis has become a trainer.

Since its birth in Britain in the 18th century, the circus has been enjoying applause under the lights in Europe and North America for two hundred years. However, in the era of Maxica's life, the work of the circus has long become a "non -mainstream" business in the entertainment industry. After the two World War, technological progress, movies and televisions have long caught people's attention, but some families still want to have some sense of ritual. They will take their children to watch one or two circles performances. Therefore, like Maxica Such a beast trainer still has his own career opportunities.

Maksi wore his own costumes and recalled the hard work in the past.

Being a trainer is indeed one of the few choices in Maxica's life. The employees of the circus must be drifting around. Except for family members, colleagues, and animals, it is difficult for them to establish a closer relationship with others. Therefore, this profession can only be carried out between family members.

Taking care of animals is tired and hard. Beast Tamers must not only teach animal performance skills, but also prepare a lot of food for them, spend time to accompany them, communicate emotions with them, and sometimes be caught by animals. Sometimes, Maxi only sleeps for four hours a day, and has to run a few cities a week. She does not have more social and entertainment opportunities. Max's husband also met in the circus and was the sound engineer of the circus.

Macsi, who is full of energy in Patre in Greece. When she took this photo, she was 23 years old.

The days live like this. With Natasha, Maxis's life is happier, and they travel around the world. When the circus performed in Taiwan in 1996, Maxis himself designed a red cloak with a silver crown. This suit commemorates her and Natasha's highest time in career.

The disappearing circus and the beast trainer

In the 21st century, the Internet became the main stage of human society entertainment, and the circus performance gradually became an ancient cultural heritage. Although the world -renowned "Sun" circus has developed many exquisite sound and light performances, it is difficult to recover the decline of the circus industry. With the rise of animal protection awareness, domesticated wildlife has received more difficulties in entertaining human circus. In May 2017, another "Lingling" circus in the world's three major circus announced the stop performance. One of the reasons for its suspension was because it started to start by wild animal performances and trained animals in a more deformity. Litigation related to animal protection.

Maxci has shown her talent with animals since she was a child, and she learned the craftsmanship of animal taming from her parents.

In 2014, after a performance in Italy, some officials told her that new laws in Europe were banned from performing wildlife performances. The Max couple had to bring the brown bear Natasha and Tiger Diana, and came to the Netherlands from Italy because the Wildlife Foundation in the Netherlands could provide protection for the circus animals.

According to policy and regulations, Maxis must give up their support for Natasha and Diana and send them into the zoo. At the beginning, Maxi agreed to this arrangement. But after a few months, Diana died in a cage, and it had a problem with its liver. Natasha is an extremely old bear, and he cannot leave Maxis's care at all. Finally, the Dutch government and an animal aid organization reached an agreement on the matter, allowing Maxis to live with Natasha. Since then, the government will soon announce that the circus must fully abandon the performances of animals such as elephants, lions, tigers, and more animals. More animals must return to the nature reserve or zoo and stay with "animal friends".

The brown bear Natasha has worked for more than 30 years in the circus. After arriving in the Netherlands, she has her new home. Max is lucky. She has a place in the northern part of the Netherlands to place her RV and two circus trailers. After "retirement", she was still very busy. She had to cook for Natasha every day, prepare a lot of fresh vegetables and fruits for it, and the cola it liked to drink. She cut her hair in summer. In the morning, she will embrace Natasha and give it a sense of security. Sometimes Maxis still misses those "children" who have left, especially tigers Diana. She felt that Diana must be sick in the new environment. Her red performance suit is still well preserved, but more props and clothing have been sold to circus fans and fanatical collectors.

In 2021, 43 -year -old Natasha was buried in an animal cemetery park after his death, accompanied by nature. Bleak

A bear's life is usually only two or three decades, and Natasha has loved heaven. In 2021, it died at the age of 43, with flowers on its grave, and a close photo of Maxis and its intimate group. The Max couple ended the drifting of a RV and moved into the apartment in the city. At the beginning, Maxis could not adapt to the days without Natasha. Later, she raised a puppy and taught this puppy some small tricks before she found the fulcrum.

Photographer Bart did not support domesticated wild animals for circus performances, but after he met Maxis and Natasha, he could no longer use the inherent concepts of past to judge them. Perhaps after a few decades, after the circus completely disappeared, only these photos can tell people that such a unique relationship between humans and animals once existed in this world.

Send 2022.8.15 Total Issue 1056 "China News Weekly" magazine

Magazine title: Live with a brown bear

Reporter: Qiu Guangyu Photography/LOEK BUTER

Operation editor: Wang Lin

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