Roland Raffler(1930-2019)

Originally from Germany, Roland Raffler spent his young life surviving the Nazis and Russians. He and his family later successfully moved to the United States where he professionally worked as a big cat trainer for the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus. Raffler trained pigs for amusement parks and seals for the Navy, but subsequently worked at Jungleland until it went out of business in 1969. He began working for the zoological sanctuary, "Animal Actors of Hollywood" in Thousand Oaks, California with its founders, Hubert Wells and Wally Ross.