Animals: Gargantua & Visitor

Ringling Bros.-Barnum & Bailey Circus’ gorilla Gargantua the Great, wrote Gargantuan Columnist Heywood Broun three weeks ago, “is the fiercest looking thing I have ever seen on two legs. And probably his power and truculence were all the more impressive because he did look a good deal like a distant relative. No one was allowed to go close to his cage, because Gargantua can reach about five feet through the bars and get a toe hold on a visitor whom he dislikes.” Gargantua may not be the world’s biggest captive gorilla—since the death of Berlin Zoo’s monster, many zoos have claimed that honor for their gorillas—but he is one of the most vindictive.

Last week the circus’ executive vice president, young John Ringling North, nephew of the late John (“Three-Ring”) Ringling, was inspecting the circus’ Sarasota, Fla. winter quarters. Imprudently disregarding warning signs, he leaned against the bars of Gargantua’s cage to rest. Gargantua reached through, got no toe hold but wrenched Circusman North’s left arm into the cage, bit & wrung it until Trainer Richard Kroner, pounding the gorilla with an iron stake, distracted its slow attention.