Voting Station

Carl Hagenbeck

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Animal Expert

The Resume

    (June 10, 1844-April 14, 1913)
    Born in Germany
    Animal trainer and collector
    Supplied animals for European zoos
    Founded the Hagenbeck Circus (1903)
    Founded the Tierpark Hagenbeck in Hamburg, Germany (1907)
    Designed the Rome Zoo (1910)

Why he might be annoying:

    After selling his circus to Ben Wallace (1907), he sued unsuccessfully to keep his name off the new circus.
    He exhibited 'primitive' peoples -- including Inuit, Nubians, Sami (Laplanders), Samoans and Tierra del Fuegans -- in 'human zoos.'
    Several of these exhibits had high mortality rates due to a failure to vaccinate the people against European diseases like smallpox and measles.
    He would let older, expendable zoo animals be killed in staged 'safari' movies.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He was one of the first to train animals using rewards instead of punishments, commenting '[Animals] react to meanness with meanness, and to friendship with friendship.'
    The Tierpark Hagenback was the first zoo to display animals in open enclosures surrounded by moats instead of in cages.
    Other zoos eventually adopted this practice, in what was dubbed 'the Hagenbeck revolution.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 6 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 6 Votes: 83.33% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 4 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 8 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying