Maria Allen
A tamer is someone who handles animals. Tamers teach the animals something that can be demonstrated to an audience. When you think of animals, you usually think of predators like tigers and lions.
The word tamer comes from the French language. However, the expression often sounds very German when it is pronounced here. A tamer conquers or tames the animals. Today one also speaks of animal tamers, animal teachers, or trainers. However, animal trainers are also professionals who, for example, teach a guide dog what it needs to be able to do.
Tamers usually work in the circus, maybe also in an amusement park. Working with predators is very dangerous: you need to know exactly how an animal is doing. However, there are also tamers who work with dogs or other less dangerous animals. This can also be pigs, geese, or other more harmless animals.
Today, however, the tamer is no longer equally popular with everyone. Many think it’s not okay to keep animals like this and force them to do things they really don’t want to do. There are therefore more and more circuses that perform without animals. Such animal training is already banned in some countries.
A related profession is an animal trainer. These people teach animals. These can be useful things, like the guide dog helping blind people. But often it is about entertainment. For example, you teach dogs, monkeys, or dolphins something that they perform in a show or in a film.