Agee....The One and Only...

Agee & Mark Dumas

Photos:
Laurentiu Garafeanu/Barcroft

Das ist Agee. Sie macht gerade wieder Furore durch einen Artikel in der Sun bzw. der Daily Mail, wo es eine Reihe von bemerkenswerten Fotos mit ihrem Trainer und Ziehvater Mark Dumas gibt. Agee ist der absolute Star unter den Tieren, die für die Filmindustrie und Werbung arbeiten. Auch hier hat sie bereits den ein oder anderen Kurzauftritt gehabt, immer mit der Absicht, dass ein längerer Artikel folgen sollte, doch die Materialsuche erwies sich als so umfangreich, dass ich statt etwas zu posten auf 10 (!) verschiedenen Artikelentwürfen im letzten Jahr sitzengeblieben bin...-

This is Agee, the one and only...She has just caused once again another public stir by the remarkable photos published a few days ago in the Sun and the Daily Mail, where she can be admired together with her coach and mentor Mark Dumas. Agee is the absolute star when it comes to animals working for the film and advertising industry. Here in the K-files she has already had one or two brief appearances too, always posted with the intention of posting a longer article about her and her background, but the material which came up during the time proved to be so extensive that it left me with a variety of 10 (!) different article drafts last year...-


Die neuen Fotos, und auch die Kommentare, die ich gestern jeweils zu den Artikeln gelesen habe, spornen mich nun an, endlich aufzuräumen und Agee ausführlich vorzustellen.Und da dies nicht in einem Rutsch geht, wird es eine Serie, wohlwissend, dass dies auch ein heikles Unterfangen ist, denn eigentlich gehört ein Eisbär nicht vor die Kamera, es sei denn, dass es sich um Wildlife Aufnahmen handelt.-

The recent photos, especially in connection with some comments I have come to read yesterday, are motivating and inspiring me now to eventually clean up my archives and to present Agee more in detail. And as this is not possible in one go, it will be a series, well knowing that this is also a delicate endeavor, as polar bears do actually not belong in front of a camera, except when it concerns wildlife documentaries.-


Mir ist es dennoch wichtig, Agee Platz einzuräumen, da sie eine wirklich außergewöhnliche Bärin ist, die auf ihre Art und so wie sie von Mark Dumas und seiner Frau Diane geführt wird, zweifelsohne in all den Jahren paradoxerweise auch einen wichtigen Beitrag geleistet hat, was Lebensweise und Habitat ihrer Artgenossen in der Arktis angeht. Auch Agee hat Neugier, Interesse und Liebe für Eisbären geweckt...und den Willen sie zu schützen.-

To me it is important to credit Agee a little more space because she is a truly exceptional bear, in her own way and as led by Mark Dumas and his wife Diane, she has without any doubt in all these years, paradoxically, also made a major contribution concerning polar bears as endangered species, the conditions of life and habitat of polar bears in the Arctic. She has raised curiosity, interest and love for polar bears... and the wish to protect them.-



To be continued...

Some already posted ice-breakers with Agee here...:
- You dream of bears and you see bears everywhere?/ad-clip
- "Yer Not The Ocean..."/ music clip

The article mentioned & more photos here:
- Don't worry, it just means he loves me: Polar bear trainer's jaw-dropping photos/Daily Mail 30.06.2011 (the original article is in the Sun and there are lots of blogs including the same material)

More sad and also belated news...Alexis Martinez & Dawn Brancheau RIP

Dawn Brancheau, 40, animal trainer, died during a performance at Seaworld Orlando in Florida last Wednesday on 24 February. Tilikum, the orca she had been working with, had pulled her by her pony tail into the water where she drowned. This is Tillikum..., captured 1983 in Iceland, and the only breeding male at Seaworld Orlando. The 30 years old orca will not be put down but handled differently now. He is at 12 tons the world's biggest captive orca and as he was already involved in a previous accident in which a trainer was killed, he was not trained to do water work, just splashes and jumps. Dawn Brancheau had been working with him for 16 years.

A similar accident happened already on Christmas 2009 in the Spanish Seaworld Park Loro Parque in Tenerife . Alexis Martinez, 29, died during a training session with Keto, a 14 year old orca. An unexpected move by Keto made Alexis Martinez fall into the water where he died by asphyxia caused by compression of the chest. Here you can find a video which was posted "in Loving Memory of Alexis Martínez ', showing him and orca whales at work...

With this posting I want to express my sympathy to the families, friends and collegues, it is a tragedy when a dedicated animal trainer dies while working with the animals she/he cared for.

This posting is not meant to discuss orcas in captivity or training animals for shows, there are certainly other places to do so.

Sources & photo credits: Tilikum, more infos to orcas working at Seaworld parks on Orca Spirit, more photos here, article here and here (about he first show yesterday after the accident)