The past two decades, Eva Julia Christiie performed worldwide in a lot of countries such as Monte Carlo, Mexico, Hong Kong, China and Africa but also in European countries like Norway, Sweden, Holland, Germany, France and Belgium. She presents an amazing illusion introducing some lovable domestic animals, 12 dogs (poodles, royal poodles, an Afghan dog, a wolf dog (75% wolf, 25% dog) and two Persian cats, as well as two Bengal tigers (one of them a white one). Her act is very popular with audiences of all ages from every part of the world and has been broadcasted in 70 countries, also in the "World's Greatest Magic" show featuring award-winning magicians and illusionists from all over the world. Eva Julia was the first and only illusionist performing with her tigers without a fence between her and the audience. Just before his death Michael Jackson asked her to join him carrying out his "Magic Show" in Las Vegas. This month (may 2010) she is touring with the "National Moscow Circus" in the Netherlands, so we took the chance to meet the lady and her great animals. This time not a world of fantasy but reality.

We got a very hearty welcome when we entered Eva's trailer by a large number of small poodles and two Persian cats. The larger dogs were in other trailers and the two tigers had their own place and outdoor enclosures. Eva is a very friendly person herself and sharing the mutual love for the big cats we could get on well right from the start. During this first encounter she already told us a lot about her life and work with the animals but also about her dreams for the future.

Working with (wild) animals in shows and circus always causes a lot of discussions and arguments. The opponents are still hanging on to their view that wild animals in a circus have a horrible life, where they can barely move and where they are forced to do tricks during training sessions. It is claimed the animals would be trapped in too small trucks for hours and dragged from one place to another. While not necessarily being an opponent, we are also not really big supporters of the way wild animals are sometimes treated in captivity, but we want to stay open-minded and fair when we tell our opinion in articles like this. By studying wildlife in different ways like us it is easier to tell the difference between right and wrong treatment. This is something we seemed to agree on with Eva and it will hopefully lead us to some new projects in the near future, but more about that later.

In other words the writer of this article only has one goal: the welfare of the wild cats, big and small and we have no interest in giving bad comments to the work of organisations and people who work with tigers and other wild cats. We have long chats with the people concerned and look around as much as we can before we form our opinion. We see the situations as they are and if they are, in our view, negative we also don't hesitate to express this in the articles and columns. However, if we see positive things, like today, we cover the story as fairly and positive.

Animals will always remain in captivity, but we believe this should happen in the best possible way. This is what we want to fight for and it's a more realistic goal than to try and release the wild animals and have them returned into the wild. People must not be confused about the way of living in the wild and the one in captivity. Of course, we also prefer to see the animals in their own habitat, but we also see opportunities for animals born in captivity to live a happy life combining learned behaviour and natural behaviour. One should really have knowledge of the body language and behaviour of animals before judging on the welfare of this animal and people should not be mislead by human thoughts and feelings. We are talking about animals and not about copies of humans.

"I will always be good to my animals," says Eva Julia, "If not, the tigers will wait for the day to come and pay me back!" Tigers are such intelligent animals and they have so much power .. you really cannot afford to train them any other way then the affectionate way. Aggressiveness is absolutely out of the question when we meet Eva's tigers, Carla, Billy and Ria. They meet the illusionist in an open and enthusiastic way and this is mutual. Eva spends a lot of time socializing her animals. She doesn't teach them tricks, but she makes the animals feel at ease and adapt to many different situations, people and animals. This has definitely paid off. We stayed a long time with the tigers, even without Eva being present and took a glimpse of what's happening behind the scenes, before the tigers have to go on stage and perform, but also when they travel to the next destination. Carla was,so to speak, very eager to walk on a lead with Eva to the circus tent, where she waited (slept) in a dark cage until the act with her started. The act is adapted to the natural behaviour of the cats: hide, stalk, walk and be invisible again.

When a tiger, or wild cat in general, is walking up and down for a while, this is always referred to as "stereotyped behaviour". However, this is not always true. Often it means the cats are "impatient" for what's to come and they often know exactly what is going to happen next, being animals of daily routine and habits: food's coming, a change of scenery or environment (either by travelling to the next destination or moving to another enclosure or place to stay).

The measures of an enclosure isn't the most important thing contributing to the welfare of a wild animal in captivity. In zoos and safari parks with reasonable enclosures you can sometimes see the tigers and other cats showing stereotype behaviour, while in some smaller enclosures like here in the circus we didn't notice any of such behaviour. Lots of distraction, attention and new impressions as well as a lot of enrichment to "feed" the mind and a certain regularity in their lives is the key to the welfare of a tiger, or any other wild cat, in captivity. A tiger in captivity of course has different needs than a tiger in the wild. Running for fun is what human's do but certainly not the cats who prefer to save their energy for more important things, like the necessity of the inevitable hunt in the wild, but in captivity when their food is provided anyway, the tigers should use their energy in a different way. In zoos the animals are easier "bored" unlike the positive training sessions and performances, like the ones of Eva Julia.

To socialise tigers is very important, so that new situations don't make them scared and stressed. In anticipation of the act we could see that the tigers Carla and Billy were very relaxed, even when circuspeople were rushing back and forth near their cages. This is only possible with well socialized tigers. Other tigers would be scared and nervous and they will certainly lash out at any kind of movement close to the cage. After the show the tigers were brought back to their outside enclosure where they could walk, play and roll around again like satisfied tigers. During the holidays Eva's tigers will stay in their favourite park in Spain with large enclosures.

In 2010 most of the animals are being trained in an affectionate way. Of course there are always exceptions to the rule but we can tell that Eva Julia really uses no violence whatsoever to the animals. They are her life and she treats them with great respect. This way of training the animals is much more rewarding then hitting the animals in order to achieve what you want. We could take a look behind the scenes and observed the tigers for a long time. When Carla and Billy are doing their show, a third tiger, tigress Ria, is enjoying the fresh air in the outside enclosure. We stayed with her for a while and it was great to see how much she longed for attention and a scratch behind the ears. Not by everybody, Eva said, as it is a critical tigress, like cats often are. Some (animal) activists are threatening to hurt the animals as to save them from their, so-called, poor life. This is really sick and of course this has nothing to do with the "rescue" of animals.

Of course there are also plenty of organisations and foundations doing great work for the really abused animals. If everybody would take care of the animals well, like Eva does, these foundations were not needed, but unfortunately reality is that there is lack of time and place to give all abused animals a better life. Recently lion Mufasa has been rescued and there's been tried to give him a dignified life again. This lion is obviously damaged for life, firstly being kept as a domestic animal, after that sold to a nightclub where visitors were bullying the poor lion. When Mufasa was getting too big to handle he was put in a shed and left to die a cruel way. Saving one animal may not change the world, but surely for that one animal the world will change forever. With this in mind we talked about Eva's dream for the future starting her own sanctuary...not only to save the abused wild cats, but also to give lots of education and breed the endangered species, like tigers, snowleopards, cheetahs...

Learned behaviour can be combined with natural behaviour, like stalking and trying to catch something...this behaviour you can still see a lot in captivity. The lack of real prey will be replaced by other moving "elements". In zoos there are children (and sometimes dogs, when allowed) which stimulate the natural behaviour of the cats in an exceptional way. Esp. with dogs they play their own game. When the dog is watching they act like they are not interested but when the dog is turning around, the cat is stalking and when close enough it jumps like an attempt to attack the prey animal. It's fun to see and the best enrichment for the big cats in captivity. Considering this dogs are often kept with cubs to promote the contact between the animals.

Eva has worked with many of the wild cats, like puma, lynx, cheetahs, but she still prefers working with tigers because the animals are smart and easier to socialize. Most trainers prefer lions just because they are more reliable than tigers, also for the same reason that tigers are so smart, what makes them unpredictable and you must really know your animals well and know what you are doing when you are training them. If you have a moment of weakness or make a mistake the tigers will act quickly and often attack you. Most accidents with big cats are caused by people who act wrongly or give the wrong signals. Drinking alcohol and working with tigers is also not going well. If you work with predators you should always be careful and never turn your back on a wild cat. "When something happens to you the animal is not to blame!" says Eva and you can never punish the animals for showing natural behaviour.

How changeable the mood of a tiger is we could witness ourselves. When we were observing tigress Ria she was affectionate when you gave her attention but when she thought you were about to leave her, she got angry, but when you stayed on she was relaxed again. If too many people (visitors of the circus taking a look) came too close for her comfort she took her distance, pulled back a bit, sometimes with her ears flat...when children were running past the enclosure she was very alert again, you could easily see the difference (as always with cats) how she responded to adults or to children. Her hunting instincts were showing clearly all of a sudden. It is precisely these mood swings that makes it necessary for the trainer to know the animal very well and also how to work with this animal. You clearly cannot make tigers do anything they don't want to or fear.

Some people, like the passionate opponents of the circus, regard travelling with wild animals as negative for the welfare of these animals. A good advice not to think like humans but think about this with an open mind. Why should an animal be stressed if he is travelling in his own "home", the place he knows best, providing him (or her) changeable views and when the tiger is doing what he can do the best: sleeping. Of course fresh water is always available during transport. Usually circuses stay a long time at the same place before travelling on to further places. The changeable views improves mental stimulation. Travelling can cause stress to animals that are not used to it like a lot of animals in zoos. Their transport box will be introduced to them shortly before the travel starts but it is not their permanent home. New things often cause stress so in this way it's also clear that it is important to socialise the animals and to let them get used to many different things.

Born in Norway, living most of the time in France, Eva started her career as a cosmetician and after that she also trimmed dogs for a while, which comes at hand with all her poodles. For 17 years she is now travelling all over the world with her animals and her marvelous illusion. It causes a lot of stress to keep the money coming in and even though she still loves her work, it is the time to move on and start thinking about a new project (breeding and education centre for the endangered cats and a home for abused animals) and we will be happy to cooperate with her in this.

To end the interview with, we were very curious to know how it is possible that Eva Julia (as the only illusionist) is able to perform with her tigress Carla without any fence between her and the audience and if she never was afraid something would go wrong. "Seeing a large group of people and so many faces together scares Carla off so she will never attempt to go near the audience" she answered, and having good faith in the tigress and their bond she's never been afraid something would happen. Socializing and knowing your animals through and through is what it's all about!

Text and photographs Copyright: Babette de Jonge
(May 2010)