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Post by crazyaboutwildwood on Apr 26, 2006 7:50:16 GMT -5
I did not know that tuffy the lion was abused by saito. I know now why he was killed! For all you are wondering what Im talking about. Thom has a great story on his website about "Animals on the boards" Tuffy the Lion that was abused and went on to dragging tom saito under the boardwalk and killing him. Other stories fail to claim that this animal was severly abused all summer! It pisses me off! Anyway, The officer John Gares that killed the lion went on to killing himself. Its about time someone gets this story straight. Thanks Thom!
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Post by JerseyDigger29 on Apr 26, 2006 11:29:20 GMT -5
I did not know that tuffy the lion was abused by saito. I know now why he was killed! For all you are wondering what Im talking about. Thom has a great story on his website about "Animals on the boards" Tuffy the Lion that was abused and went on to dragging tom saito under the boardwalk and killing him. Other stories fail to claim that this animal was severly abused all summer! It pisses me off! Anyway, The officer John Gares that killed the lion went on to killing himself. Its about time someone gets this story straight. Thanks Thom! Thanks for the nice words about my story. Originally, I got the photo of the seals at the museum and thought, "Gee, Wildwood sure was a different place before PETA. Then I remembered the tale of Tuffy the lion from my youth, so I thought that maybe I could write a piece about animal acts in the Wildwoods and tie my love of history into the piece along with Tuffy. The problem with historical facts from before most of us were born is that not many people actually experienced it firsthand. According to Bob Bright at the museum, Tuffy had been treated very badly all summer and the rumor was that Mr. Saito had been responsible for a lot of it. Apparently, Bob said, Tuffy dragged Saito under the boardwalk and either mauled him to death or broke his neck with a swat of his paw, no one knows for sure. After the killing, Bob said Tuffy went back to his cage and just laid down, as if Saito had been the only target of his rage. But no one else was attacked. As with any history, a lot of facts become quite vague with the years. This is what is fun about history. It's like a dectective story, trying to dig up the true facts. Johnny Gares shot Tuffy with only one shot through the right eye. When he later committed suicide, no one knew whether it was because of the experience with Tuffy or whether it had bee a family problem. The only thing I'm certain of from what I got out the little available information is that Tuffy didn't deserve to die. If Saito had been Tuffy's "prime tormentor," maybe someone should have shot him instead. Only kidding! Another truth: We have had pigs sliding down chutes so people could bet on which side they would land. We have had almost an entire tribe of Seminole Indians bussed into Wildwood so they could wrestle alligators at Schellenger and Ocean Avenues. We had a ride called Monkey Speedway (?) where tiny monkees were forced to ride on top of cars on a miniature track, etc. My point is that if we are going to try and upscale the boardwalk, maybe we should forget about taking animals out of their natural enviornment so we can get some cheap thrills. There are other ways to make the boardwalk fun. Isn't history fascinating? Thom -  p.s. - There is one question with the story of Tuffy that really irks me to this day. I have never heard about "Who was Thomas Saito? Was he a boardwalk worker? Did he work on the same attraction with Tuffy? or was he just someone who came by a lot? No one seems to know. If Tuffy had been abused by him all summer, why was Saito up there? It seems to me, someone should have stopped Saito a lot sooner. TheWildwoodsReporter.com |
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Post by MMM on Apr 26, 2006 19:15:49 GMT -5
Thanks for finding out more about this, Thom. Tuffy sounds like he was pretty smart, going after the right person... It's a shame he had to get killed.
Why wasn't Salto stopped? People often don't treat animals as well as they should, even now...
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Post by crazyaboutwildwood on Apr 26, 2006 20:38:23 GMT -5
That bastard saito got what he deserved! Thats all there is to it. As you can tell I have a very soft spot for animals. You said that tuffy didnt have to die and someone should have shot saito instead! Just kidding. Im not kidding. Anyone that treats animals bad deserves to be shot!!! Thats all there is to it! Im pissed off now so Im going to stop............. Anyway thom thanks for some detailed info on this story. i will remeber to talk to Mr Bright when i am at the museum! Thanks again. I really enjoyed your story. keep up the great work my friend.
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Post by FlyinGN on Apr 27, 2006 19:31:26 GMT -5
ya forgot to take your prozac Mike?? LOL That bastard saito got what he deserved! Thats all there is to it. As you can tell I have a very soft spot for animals. You said that tuffy didnt have to die and someone should have shot saito instead! Just kidding. Im not kidding. Anyone that treats animals bad deserves to be shot!!! Thats all there is to it! Im pissed off now so Im going to stop............. Anyway thom thanks for some detailed info on this story. i will remeber to talk to Mr Bright when i am at the museum! Thanks again. I really enjoyed your story. keep up the great work my friend. |
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Post by crazyaboutwildwood on Apr 27, 2006 20:54:20 GMT -5
Yeah, sometimes I need a double shot of the old prozac! LOL Im going to post some pics of my 3 best friends in the world one of these days. They are getting pretty old! I have 3 golden retrievers and I spoil them rotten! Sarah= 11 years old Sebastian = 10 years old ( bad boy) And Clementine= 10 years old
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Post by writhinganacondo on Apr 27, 2006 20:57:57 GMT -5
Many Wildwood stories denote the Tuffy incident as "the last animal act allowed on the boardwalk", but this is wrong. Victor the wrestling bear was at the entrance to the Aquacircus in the mid-1970's (yes, a live bear you paid to "wrestle") and there was a dolphin in a tank in the 2200 block in 1970.
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Post by JerseyDigger29 on Apr 27, 2006 22:44:01 GMT -5
Many Wildwood stories denote the Tuffy incident as "the last animal act allowed on the boardwalk", but this is wrong. Victor the wrestling bear was at the entrance to the Aquacircus in the mid-1970's (yes, a live bear you paid to "wrestle") and there was a dolphin in a tank in the 2200 block in 1970. Not to mention the pig chute in the Casino Arcade up until at least the 50's. Or the Aquarium where the old Howard Johnson's Restaurant was at the entrance to the Arcade. That was there until recently, wasn't it? If it isn't still there, I don't know. I always wondered how they transported (and disrupted their lives by changing their enviornment each season) the critters in the tanks back and forth after each season. Thom |
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Post by FlyinGN on Apr 28, 2006 4:47:33 GMT -5
and how about the aquarium on the boardwalk??
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Post by writhinganacondo on Apr 28, 2006 5:46:31 GMT -5
The aquarium residents stay there year round and are taken care of daily. The entrance is to the rear from the boardwalk. New owners took over last year.
Speaking of animals, I remember seeing some "no cats allowed" signs on the North Wildwood boardwalk recently. Too funny. Is this in response to all the feral cats or some cat lady?
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Post by JerseyDigger29 on Apr 28, 2006 7:49:16 GMT -5
The aquarium residents stay there year round and are taken care of daily. The entrance is to the rear from the boardwalk. New owners took over last year. Speaking of animals, I remember seeing some "no cats allowed" signs on the North Wildwood boardwalk recently. Too funny. Is this in response to all the feral cats or some cat lady? If the Aquarium Residents are there all year, is there some reason they don't open year-round, at least on weekends. It would give the local kids something to do, not to mention all the people who are starting to come down on off-season weekends now that the Wildwoods is starting to expand and update. They could even offer school tours for the local science classes or something. As for the cats: I never heard of the signs, but I do know that all those cats under the boardwalk do a great job of taking care of all the rats and mice that used to be there many many years ago, not to mention the birds. Question on Wildwood boardwalk trivia: Did you ever see a dead seagull or pidgeon anywhere near the boardwalk or beach? When I was a kid, Wildwood was like AC; there were thousands of pidgeons on the boardwalk. There are still some, but not like in the past. Where do all the dead seagulls go? Probably the cats. Thom |
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