Joseph R. Arcaris rescued Chester Czaja from attack by lions, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, February 9, 1940. Czaja, 24, caretaker, entered an enclosure in which there were five untrained lions, and they knocked him down, bit, and dragged him. Arcaris, 31, animal trainer, carrying a six-foot-long stick, entered the enclosure. He had never been in the enclosure and had not worked with the lions. Three of the lions were biting Czaja, who was unconscious and covered with blood. With the stick he beat off two of the lions, part of the stick breaking off; and the other lion dragged Czaja into a niche in the wall of the enclosure and again began to bite him. Another lion joined in attacking Czaja. Following the lions to the niche, Arcaris repeatedly struck one lion’s head and back; it ran away. Entering a step or two into the niche, he then beat the other lion’s head; it dropped Czaja and faced Arcaris. Thinking the lion might charge him, Arcaris stepped toward it and struck it again; and it moved away. Men outside the enclosure fired blank cartridges and chased the lions into cages, and then they entered and removed Czaja. Czaja was seriously injured, but he recovered. Arcaris was not injured.
Obituary
Joseph Arcaris
Well known Animal Trainer
Joseph Arcaris, 93, of 165 Pine Street Nashua, NH died Thursday August 15, 2002 at his home.
Born in Scotland on Aug. 1, 1909, he was the son of the late Carmen and Filomena Arcaris.
He was educated in Europe and came to the US in 1927 to Newton, MA.
During World War II, he served in the US Army and fought in the Battle of the Bulge.
Mr. Arcaris was a well known animal trainer and was considered to be one of the best in the country. Most notably he was known as a lion tamer for Benson’s Wild Animal Farm in Hudson, NH where he also trained tigers, bears, leopards, monkeys, elephants, pumas, chimps, and even a 16 ft. python. At the age of 18, he started out caring for animals at Nuremberga Park in Newton, MA. He also worked at Hogo Gardens Zoo in Salt Lake City, and Jungleland in Thousand Oaks, CA, where he trained animals used in motion pictures. He appeared in several movies including Tim Tyler’s Luck, a Tarzan movie and Abbott and Costello movie. He also presented animal acts at Clyde Beatty’s Circus in Ft. Lauderdale, FL and Los Angeles, CA. One of his well known acts was the wedding of a male and female lion, fully dressed in wedding gear, at each performance.
He was awarded the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission’s medal in 1940 for jumping into a lion pit with a club and saving a worker who was being mauled by six lions.
Mr. Arcaris was predeceased by his siblings, Anthony Arcaris, Albert Arcaris, Mary Leone and Dorothy Farrell.
He is survived by a brother, Louis Arcaris of Rome, Italy; two sisters, Rosa DeMarco of Canada and Theresa Capoccio of London, England; and many nieces and nephews.