OCALA, Fla. (AP) - Love can conquer and sustain all, even when two people come from different cultures on separate continents and have very different goals for the future.
Luis Palacio was born in Mexico, into, he says, a family where the two most important things were animals and the military. His family chose the military.
Marcia Palacio was born in England, just outside London. By age 3 she was studying ballet. At 10 she was a junior associate with the Royal Ballet School in London. By 13 she was dancing with the likes of Rudolph Nureyev.
In Mexico, Luis hated military school; his heart was with animals.
“That’s who I was. During childhood I played with animals rather than with other kids,” he said.
He said he “escaped” from military school three times.
“The third time was the charm,” he said. He was 13 years old. “I stumbled upon a circus and when I saw all the animals, I knew this was it, I had found my profession,” he recalled.
It was an Italian Circus, touring Mexico.
“The owner of the circus practically adopted me,” Luis said.
Luis spent a lot of time watching and learning from others. He ultimately achieved the rank of master animal trainer. He has worked with lions, tigers, bears, gorillas, chimps, wolves, hyenas, leopards, pumas, orangutans, all types of birds, rhinos, hippos and snakes.
“It’s a gift, something you are born with,” he said. “It’s a soul connection, either you have it or you don’t.”
His specialty with the circus was a mixed animal act, which included lions, tigers, bears, wolves, leopards, pumas and more - all in the same cage.
When Luis was 29, Marcia was about to turn 18. That meant she would need an equity (union) card in order to perform as an adult anywhere in Europe. The Italian circus touring in Mexico was issuing equity cards for just a brief engagement with them. Marcia signed a contract to appear as a chorus dancer for three months, after which she planned to return to England and the Royal Ballet.
Luis, was the young, dashing, Latin lion tamer and Marcia, chaperone in tow, was one of 32 beautiful dancing girls.
Luis playfully recounts the first time he saw her, when he said to himself, “Ah, that one!”
Marcia’s attention, however, was on the animals.
“All of a sudden here were tigers and elephants lions and bears, it was terribly exciting, more so than the ballet,” she said.
Luis decided to ask Marcia and another girl to join the animal act, riding the elephants.
Her love for the animals was a tremendous lure from returning to the ballet, but she wasn’t all that enamored with Luis.
“He spoke so sharply to the animals, I thought he was mean,” she said. “But the more I learned and was around, the more I realized that rather than being mean, he was being firm and clear with the animals. And when I saw how sweet he was with them, how the animals always came first over everything for him, I knew that this was a very special man.”
“When one of my tigers had babies, I asked for her help and that sealed the deal,” Luis said. Marcia would continue to nurture and raise many tigers throughout the years.
“I ducked my chaperone and never did return to England,” Marcia said. “I found my heaven with the animals and the circus.”
Luis had his own special description of the growing relationship: “She would work in the cage with me and the animals. I would notice the way we would move together, anticipate; the way we could communicate without words. This is one in a million - I knew we had the same soul.”
The circus owner objected to the relationship between performers so the two staged a fake fight so Marcia could storm off to return to England. There, she arranged jobs for her and Luis with the famous Chipperfield Circus.
For 36 years, the couple traveled the world with circuses including Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey. They said they have trained every type of animal, as well as other trainers, in every corner of the globe. Among the animals they trained was Clyde, the orangutan in Clint Eastwood’s “Every Which Way But Loose” film.
The couple has faced a few trials and tribulations along the way but, according to Luis, their spiritual good fortune has always brought them through.
Once, in England, they were performing their mixed-animal act with a multitude of lions, tigers, leopards, wolves and bears in a 42-foot cage. One of the lions was new to Luis, but he had been assured the lion would be OK. Luis said he felt the lion “challenging” him. Luis turned and tripped and fell. The lion pounced on him in attack.
As the lion pounced, it knocked over a platform that fell and blocked the gate to the cage. No one could enter to help.
As the lion tossed Luis about, Marcia crawled over the tops of things inside the cage to get to the door to open it. As she did so, she also threw things to distract the lion.
It was eight full minutes before people were in position to help. In the end, though, it was Luis lying still and lifeless that caused the lion to stop mauling him.
As Luis lay still, the ringmaster said, “Don’t touch him, he’s dead.”
That was when Marcia heard Luis say, “I’m not dead, call the bleeping ambulance.”
Luis had severe injuries; his arms were limp as the nerves to them had been cut, he had injuries to his head, spine and back. His jugular vein had been nicked.
The “spiritual good fortune” was this - when they brought him to the hospital in London, it turned out that every top neurosurgeon in England was there for a conference. When they heard of the mauled lion tamer, they all pitched in to help.
The Palacio’s have two adult children, Olivia, who was born in Japan, and Marlon, who was born in England. They are grown and on their own paths now, but as children they sometimes acted in a Mexican soap opera. The star of the show was a chimp. Their parents, of course, were the trainers for the animal.
Luis and Marcia retired to Ocala in 2004. The green and shady town had caught their eye as they were driving cross-country after performing for a few years in Japan. Three years ago, they opened Petting Zoo Ocala, at 11150 W. State Road 40, where they care for exotic and farm animals. It is open to the public. They said the venue is a place through which they can provide educational opportunities and also still entertain people.
So, it would seem, once the circus is in the blood, it never quite goes away. And, once true love has been found, whatever comes in life will be encountered by two as one.
“We are just a normal married couple,” Luis says with a grin.
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Information from: The Gainesville (Fla.) Sun, https://www.gainesvillesun.com
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