TRUST AND RESPECT ARE CRUCIAL QUALITIES FOR ELEPHANT TRAINER

TIGERS AT REST: Two royal Bengal tigers, Julie and Susie, relax in a cage outside the Show Me Center, where they will perform in the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus today and Wednesday.

ANIMAL TRAINER: Flavio Togni, animal trainer for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, stands near the circus train in Cape Girardeau Monday. Togni and his animals will appear in two performances today and Wednesday at the Show Me Center.

In the midst of her afternoon garden-hose shower, Daisy's attention was called to her trainer, who wanted her to sit down.

"Daisy, down!" he said, "Down!" And slowly, all 4,000 elephant pounds of Daisy graced the ground.

"You've got to get them to trust you," said Daisy's trainer, Flavio Togni (pronounced Tony). "An animal isn't supposed to work mechanically. They should do things because they understand you, not because it's automatic."

Togni is head animal trainer for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. The circus is in Cape Girardeau today and Wednesday for two shows each day.

In addition to teaching elephants to understand human commands, he has trained horses, panthers, tigers and a rhino.

On Monday afternoon, Togni sat on a bale of hay in the elephant tent outside the Show Me Center and talked to and about his elephants, the 13 he brought over from Europe in 1989 that are part of the circus. Togni's brother sprayed the elephants with a hose while they let out meager roars of delight.

"This one is Carla," he said as he pointed to an especially large elephant that was third in line. "She's 57. She became a part of the Togni family when my uncle was 4. You could say she's been in two generations of Tognis."

Carla, who looked at Togni while he spoke of her, is the "leader" of the elephants, he said.

"In the wild, the law is that the oldest female is the leader, not the male."

At just 30, Togni said he wouldn't change a thing about his profession. His grandfather and uncle were animal trainers in Europe, and his father was, as he says, "the businessman" of the family.

"He told me I could do the business side or the training, and it was my choice; nobody said I had to train animals."

Togni said his love for the animals began at the age of 4 when he rode an elephant in the circus. He spent his boyhood days rushing home from school to be with his uncle Bruno, who was a trainer. From Bruno and his other relatives, he learned to train.

One of the most important things, he said, is that there is no secret to training animals.

"You just respect them," he said. "It's just like with a person: if you respect someone, the person will respect you back. Animals work the same way."

Togni said when animals do well they are rewarded with food, water and affection. They are never beaten or mistreated when they don't perform well, he said.

Togni said each elephant is taught its name when it is 4 years old. It's part of the training process, which takes four years, Togni said.

Togni said he spends about 14 hours a day with his animals and "24 if they are sick." As a result, they trust him.

"The trick I do with Sabrina, she stands on her hind legs and rolls on top of me. I have to trust her 100 percent and she has to trust me."

Togni said elephants are like dogs in that they are loyal. "You call their name and they come," he said, and they remember everything.

"If somebody mistreats them, they remember forever."

He said his most shining moment came in 1985 during a circus performance in Rome. In the midst of the show, the power in the building was accidentally shut off.

"People were screaming all around us and I could see nothing," Togni said. "I just called all the elephants to me by name."

After a minute and a half, the lights came back on.

"They had all come up to me and were just standing there. They know when they are around me nothing bad will happen."