About Rick

***Rick at Marineworld @ 1976***
Rick Glassey has devoted most of his adult life to working with big cats. It began 28 years ago, in 1975, at Marineworld-Africa USA in northern California. There he developed and headed "Tiger Island", an exhibit featuring Rick and his crew wrestling and interacting with several Bengal tigers on land and in the water. While there, he was hired to do stunts with lions and tigers for the epic cat film "ROAR". *Stunt for movie "ROAR" 1978*
	In 1980, Rick left Marineworld with "Kurb", a young tiger he'd grown especially fond of, and they began working for magician Doug Henning in his "World of Magic" show. In 1982, the magician began an 8 month run on Broadway in the magical musical "Merlin" starring Chita Rivera. Rick acquired and trained black leopard "Kaboe" to be used nightly in the production. He was also responsible for a multitude of other animals in the show. Rick with Doug Henning @ 1981
After the play closed, Rick continued to tour the country with the "World of Magic", but also began doing studio work with his cats, his feline family having now grown to 4-- tigers Kurb, Jake, Malia and black leopard Kaboe. The rest is cinema history. Kurb went on to star in many Esso commercials and "Beastmaster II-- Through the Portal of Time". Jake also appeared in the Esso commercials as well as starring in "Dr. Dolittle" at the ripe old age of 13. Black leopard Kaboe has Scene from "The Jungle Book" 1994
	done many things but is probably best known for his appearances in Michael Jackson's "Black or White" and Heart's "Nothin' At All" videos, and as Bagheera in Walt Disney's "The Jungle Book". Malia became almost legendary in the animal business for her spectacular on-cue snarls that were used as cut-aways in numerous movies, videos and commercials. In 1992, Rick acquired baby spotted leopards Mowgli, Bagheera and Akaela to raise and train for the film "Passion in the

Desert" based on Honore de Balzac's almost-love story between a leopard and stranded soldier filmed in the deserts of Jordan. Baby Kipling, another spotted leopard, was acquired during filming and was also used briefly in the movie. Lion Wazoo, adopted as a teenager from a woman who now studies cheetahs in Africa, Coty the mountain lion, Mufasa, and tigers Shirock and Shamus have all joined the family. Kurb, Kaboe and Jake have all passed peacefully on after living long, happy lives with Rick and his wife Judy, and daughters Brooke and Brynne.
Throughout his 28 years with cats, Rick has been involved in many educational and philanthropic activities having to do with the conservation and protection of wild and rescued felines. In 1989, he was hired by Earth Trust to travel to Thailand to consult on a captive tiger program and sanctuary. From 1990 through 1998, during and in between studio jobs, Rick and his cats did much promotional work to benefit Tippi Hedren's Shambala Preserve, a sanctuary for big cats in southern California. He also consulted and trained lions and tigers for another big cat sanctuary in Oregon 1998-2001... you can see Rick working with white tiger "Bashu" at the Oregon sanctuary on Animal Planet's "Taming The Tiger". Rick also still keeps his hand in the magic biz by helping magician Jay Owenhouse with his tiger for the show.