When they both worked at the natural park, Naji, a Bengal tiger, was their favorite.

“Naji was calm, cool and collected. He just liked to stroll around. He was really gentle. He would accept just about any routine because he knew he would not be forced. He roamed the island at will.”

“Tell how Naji would protect you,” Chris suggested.

“There was another tiger named Bagdad,” Larry said. “Bagdad was different​—aggressive, playful, kind of sneaky. She would tiptoe around the island and hide behind things. When you’d walk by she would rush in from behind and attack. People would almost have a heart attack watching, but she was just like a house cat, overgrown by a few hundred pounds. All she would do was flatten you like a pancake, click her heels in the air and keep running. Now, if Naji was around he would race out and intercept Bagdad and they would have a brawl. Bagdad would run off and Naji would come up and stick by me.

“There was a Siberian tigress called Shantee that was cross-eyed. She would run at me, 10 feet off target all the way, then right at the end swerve in a big loop and be right on top of me. She was playful. Whatever I was in the mood for, Shantee would go for it.

“Another Siberian, a big male 10 feet long, four feet high and weighing over 600 pounds, had a favorite sport. He liked to be ridden. It happened by accident. In the show arena one day he sat down. I walked up and was petting him and threw my leg around him. He bolted straight up and there I was on his back. The audience burst into applause​—they thought it was the act. He circled the arena a time or two, then shot down the tunnel like a rocket. After that I’d ride him in the park, anywhere, zooming past the people in a streak. Not many people get to ride a Siberian tiger.”

But this one got too big, maybe 800 pounds and 15 feet long. Siberians are among the largest land predators and, with exceptions, are pretty temperamental, harder to get acquainted with. The Tituses hated to see him go, but management finally shipped him off to China.

Affection Training

“Our shows were not in zoos or circuses,” Larry explained, “but in the natural setting of Tiger Island. We usually raised the animals from cubs. We let them romp and play, then built a show around their natural behavior. Whatever trait we discovered in an individual animal we reinforced it. That way the animal had about 90 percent of the say-so. If he liked to roll over and play with sticks, he’d learn that every time he rolled over we fed him. If he liked to hold a certain position he would be rewarded for that. The system is called affection training.

“Affection training brings out the best in wild animal nature. The average circus act brings out the worst. You see lions and tigers in circus arenas snarling at the whips and chairs and guns. They are goaded into this show of ferocity. The human performers want to make the animals appear dangerous and deadly to impress the audience.

“Backstage in circuses I’ve seen trainers scream and jab at animals to psych them up. I’ve seen them underfed and starved so that they would put on a good show. If they did, maybe they would be fed.”

“Though it’s been some time since we’ve worked with the animals mentioned, we often go back and visit them. Some, like Naji, the Bengal tiger, remember us.