Damoo Dhotre

Damoo Dhotre (31 August 1902 – 23 January 1973) was an Indian animal trainer and circus performer.

Damodar Gangaram Dhotre was born on 31 August 1902, in Pune, Bombay Province (now Maharashtra), Colonial India.^[1]

Damoo Dhotre began visiting his maternal uncle Shellar's circus as a boy, and his uncle, recognizing his interest, took him under his wing.^[2] In 1912, he left school and traveled with his uncle for four years.^[2] He was nine when he began his own training, doing acrobatic work and bicycle training.^[3] He practiced acrobatics and cycling tricks on two wheels, high wheel, and unicycle under Savlaram Mali, the circus's star acrobat, who instructed and drilled him.^[4] Right from the beginning, Damoo was more drawn to wild animals than to acrobatics.^[5] Dhotre, at age thirteen, sought out Dhondiram Chavan, Shellar's lead wild animal trainer, and started training to handle the animals himself.^[6] Damoo's mother was horrified at the idea of him entering a wild animal cage.^[2] With his uncle's circus, he learned professional approaches to animal training.^[7] The first trick he performed was riding a tiger around the ring.^[6]

Feeling homesick after four years, he returned to Pune.^[2] He then joined other troupes before reaching Franz Isako's Grand Circus and Traveling Zoo as a wild animal trainer.^[1]

When the French circus artist Alfred Court visited India in 1939 for black leopards, Damoo Dhotre, their owner, demanded to go with them.^[8] From Calcutta, Dhotre journeyed to Paris to join Alfred Court as a trainer.^[9] He gained extensive knowledge of animals as a pupil of Court.^[10] His work at the French circus provided enough income to support his wife and three sons back in India.^[11]

With circuses banned during World War II over security concerns, the French circus company relocated to America.^[11] They were signed by John Ringling North, who traveled to Europe to recruit fresh acts before the supply was cut off.^[12] For the 1940 season, Damoo Dhotre joined the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus as one of the assistants of Alfred Court.^[13] Three rings contained a mix of lions, tigers, mountain lions, black leopards, a Kodiak bear, Himalayan and polar bears, great Danes, and a white snow leopard—all together in one spectacle.^[12] Court's center ring big cat act, worked by Dhotre, debuted in the early 1940s and became a regular feature on the 1942 Ringling tour.^[14] His mentor, Court, often stayed behind the scenes, letting Damoo present his act to the "Greatest Show on Earth" audiences.^[15] Dressed as a Hindu prince (or fakir), "Prince" Damoo Dhotre presented his black leopards and tigers.^[16] Dhotre's leopards, both close to 150 pounds, allowed him to wear them around his neck like fur stoles.^[17]

He continued to impress international audiences with his fearlessness and expertise.^[11] Unlike other trainers who provoked animals with guns, chairs, and whips, Damoo Dhotre relied on affection and voice cues.^[18] He began by calming fear, then taught respect. He stood by their cages for days, speaking and feeding them until they settled. During training, he relied on ropes, rewards, and gentle correction, certain fear alone caused resentment. With a guiding stick, a chew stick, and a whip to give signals, he stayed in command but always warned that no wild animal could be completely tamed.^[17]

Once more, tragedy hit when the war forced the circus to close.^[11] Damoo was enlisted as a US Army corporal and spent time at Camp Sibert in Alabama.^[19] He later rejoined the American circus scene when the war ended in 1945.^[2] He spent the season of 1946 as a featured act with Sparks Circus.^[20]

In 1947, he was back at the Ringling-Barnum show. During the 1949 program, Damoo Dhotre performed his act featuring six black and spotted leopards, two pumas, and four black jaguars.^[21] For several seasons, the Ringling-Barnum circus featured the mixed cat act in its center ring.^[22]

Dhotre resigned from Ringling Brothers in 1949 due to an illness and headed back to Europe.^[2] Following recovery from a surgery, Dhotre rejoined the spotlight at Cirque Amar in France, opening an extended Paris engagement at Porte Maillot on 20 May 1950. The cats had been owned by Alfred Court, who had taken them to Ringling Brothers years before and sold them when he left for France. When Ringling disposed of the cats, Court bought them back, sold them to the Amars, and arranged for Dhotre to continue managing the act.^[22] By February 1951, Dhotre was on the road with the French troupe, appearing across North Africa in Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco.^[23]

Two years later, worsening health brought Dhotre back to his native India.^[2] He spent his final years residing in Shukrawar Peth, Pune.^[24]

Damoo Gangaram Dhotre died in Pune, Maharashtra, India, on 23 January 1973.^[6]

He recounted his story to Richard Taplinger in Wild Animal Man, published in 1961.^[4] The autobiography documents the trainer's career highlights and experiences in the circus.^[25]

Damoo Dhotre was inducted into the International Circus Hall of Fame in 1973.^[26]